The Space Between
by YelloWitchGrl
Summary: Harry and Ginny's lives have finally evened out. They've faced trauma, and loss, more than most have, but they've fought hard to find a normal. If only things could stay that way... Old enemies find new ways to seek revenge. A/N: This story will flip between POVs, including the children. This is needed to build the story, but I wanted to warn readers just in case that isn't your
1. Prologue Part 1

January 2004

"Mine."

Harry froze in the act of pulling on his jumper to stare at his wife, her finger pointing at his chest. "Excuse me?"

"Mine!" she said again, flicking her finger in a dismissive gesture. "Take it off, Potter. That one is mine."

He glanced down, wondering what exactly she was referring to. "Uhm…"

"The sweater, Harry! It's mine." She crossed her arms and began tapping her toe on the hardwood floor of their bedroom.

Harry needed to tread carefully. She'd been in a foul mood for days and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of another tongue-thrashing. "Your mum gave this to me for Christmas a year or two ago."

"Six years, Harry. She gave it to you six years ago. It doesn't fit you anymore, not since you started working out." She smirked in a way that told him she appreciated the work outs and he relaxed. She was in a good mood right now and taking the mickey. He had gotten used to her occasional mood shifts over the years of their marriage, but the last few days had been more than a little disconcerting.

He thought back to what she'd said. _Has it really been six years already?_ "It goes on all right."

"It's too tight, hand it over."

"Ginny…"

She sighed in exasperation clearly telling him she thought he was being dense and she was only humoring him. "I nicked that one fair and square a while ago. But, even if I hadn't nicked it, which I did, and it did fit properly, which is doesn't, it still looks better on me. Therefore, it's _mine_!"

Well, it was only a sweater... He pulled it off and handed it over. He watched in amusement as she slid it over her head and began to roll the sleeves back several times. It looked almost like a dress on her. "It's too big for you," he stated flatly.

Ginny raised an eyebrow and a secret, almost shy smile flitted over her face. "It won't be for long."

Completely wrong-footed by the comment he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You'd have to stuff yourself for years to even come close. Quidditch keeps you in great shape."

She took a deep breath and walked over to him. She reached up and cupped his cheeks before whispering, "Can't you think of any other reason that I might start to fill out this jumper… especially right here," she took his left hand with her right and guided it to her lower abdomen.

Harry felt his heart lodge painfully in his throat. _Does she really mean…_ "Really?" he breathed it out, barely more than a whisper. "I thought… you know, wow," he let out another hard breath, staring into her eyes which were studying him closely. "You're pregnant?"

Ginny nodded.

He closed his eyes and all of his feelings rushed in on him until he had to pull her into his arms, his anchor and strength through many years, through the good times and the bad. A baby… a baby… he almost couldn't wrap his mind around it. They were going to wait another year or two, but he'd wanted kids. The longing had only intensified the more now that Teddy was getting older. "Are you happy?" he asked. She seemed happy, but…

"I am," Ginny replied; her whisper nearly lost against the cotton of his shirt where her head nestled. Her arms tightened slightly. "Are you happy?"

He was terrified. He was elated. He was… too many things to name. "I'm overwhelmed, but in a really good way." Harry leaned down to nuzzle her neck, right at the collar of _his_ jumper. "That's going down at the most creative way of telling a bloke that he's going to be a dad."

"I didn't plan it that way," Ginny admitted with a giggle. "It just sort of came out."

Harry found her mouth and began a slow kiss that quickly heated up to more. "Merlin, I love you."

"I love you, too," she assured him.

More kissing followed, but was halted when Harry had a vision of all of his clothing quickly disappearing from his dresser as her belly rounded with their growing child and her justifying why she needed them and him ending up walking around starkers all the time. His heart constricted and immense joy flooded him. However… "You leave my socks alone. There is no way you can argue that you need my socks."

"I make no promises. It's true love when a girl steals your clothes. Didn't you know that?"

Harry sighed before laughing. _To hell with it,_ he thought. She was so damn beautiful that everything he owned really did look better on her than it ever would on him.

"I'm scared, though," Ginny whispered.

He nodded against her hair. He was scared, too, but he wasn't going to tell her that. It was his job to put on a brave front. "It won't be like last time. We're not going to lose this baby."

"I talked to Audrey a few hours ago and she said the same, but I can't help it." Ginny let out a sigh and looked up into his face. "I don't know that I can lose another one."

Harry cupped her cheek. "Last time was completely messed up. Nothing went the way it was supposed to and the odds were always stacked against Hope living. This time will be different." He told her confidently.

"I wanted this time to be the more 'normal' way," Ginny admitted, "even though we didn't plan this baby either." She laughed and stood on her toes to kiss him. "It's very different being pregnant and not being bed ridden."

"You're definitely moodier this time," Harry said, remembering the last few days.

Ginny poked him hard in the belly. "Excuse me?"

"Well," he grinned, leaning down to nip at her neck. "I mean… you're so beautiful."

She only eyed him before grinning sheepishly. "I forgot to go get the potion."

"You forgot?" Harry said, completely bemused. "You've been religious about it for the last few years."

"I know!" She said, turning her head so she could rest flush against him. "I got the owl from Martha reminding me and just kept putting it off because I was busy and… then I forgot."

"Good," Harry told her firmly.

She quirked an eyebrow as she glanced up at him. "You're glad I got shoddy with our birth control?"

"Yes, I am," he promised kissing her soundly on the top of the head. "Feel free to get shoddy with it any time you like."

"You are a strange man, Harry," Ginny said, hugging him tight. "But I'll keep you."


	2. Prologue Part 2

May 27th, 2005

"It's okay, James," Ginny shushed as she rocked her fretful son as he tried desperately to shove his entire fist in his mouth. She was exhausted. She was beyond exhausted and had, in fact, passed into zombie state weeks ago. James had been a demanding baby, although usually a happy one as well. Once his teeth had started coming at the end of February, when he was five months old, James had turned into a colicky mess. He only stopped crying when he was asleep and he didn't sleep much. He even cried when he nursed because the pain was bothering him so much. Ginny wanted to cry too because the teeth were making nursing excruciating.

They'd tried pain potions, chewing on cold rags, and even an ointment that Audrey had suggested. Nothing worked. He cried much of the night, leaving her so bleary that she went through her days in a stupor. Harry had tried to help, but James only wanted her and he still had work.

"Here," seven-year-old Teddy said, handing her the ring sling.

"Thank you," Ginny told him trying to smile. He was staying with them for the week while Andromeda traveled to Scotland to visit a friend who was ill. One handed she threw it over her head like a sash and fitted James down into the pouch. His crying turned instantly into a low keening. Her lip trembled as she looked at the little boy. "This isn't how I wanted our week together to go."

"It's okay," Teddy told her, patting her elbow.

It wasn't really okay, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Harry was working very long hours at the moment. He'd taken over as Head of the Auror office a few weeks before and the work load had tripled in the transition. Ginny was so tired that she felt sick and like she'd been trampled by a dragon. She'd been running on empty for over a month and it was only getting worse. She'd been looking forward to her week with Teddy. Without warning her lip quivered and she hooked an arm around his thin shoulders and pulled him in close. "I'm sorry. I wanted to have so much fun this week. You've got to be deaf by now from all the screaming."

He shrugged as he hugged her. "I don't mind. Did I cry like this when I was getting teeth?"

She ran a hand through his short hair and shook her head. "You did cry some but not like this." His blue eyes met hers and taking a deep breath she willed the energy to come. It didn't, but she would push through anyway. "Let's go for a walk."

"Okay," he agreed and took the hand she held out. They walked out the back and down the lane. Before they were even halfway down the drive James went limp with sleep and Ginny tucked his head more securely in the cloth so it didn't flop about. The two talked some about the deer they spotted and the squirrels, but mostly they walked in companionable silence.

They wended their way towards the back of the house and over the bridge. Ginny sat heavily on one of the benches, unable to move another step. She closed her eyes and heard Teddy moving somewhere close by.

"Hope Potter," Teddy said slowly.

Ginny's eyes snapped open as the dread filled her. She didn't want to do this right now, and she'd forgotten that he was getting really good at reading.

Teddy's eyes met her questioningly and her heart lodged itself in her throat. "Who was she?" He asked hesitatingly.

"She," Ginny licked her lips and tried to will herself to remain calm. "She was our first child. She died."

Teddy came over and sat, leaning against her as the tears started to rain down her face. "I didn't mean to make you cry." His voice was filled with remorse.

"No," Ginny pulled him in close and kissed the top of his head. "No sweetheart, you didn't make me cry. I get sad when I think about her and I'm so tired right now that everything is more difficult."

"She was born the year I was," Teddy whispered.

"She… she wouldn't have been," Ginny explained gently, swiping away the tears. "She died in my belly. It's called a miscarriage."

Teddy looked back at the grave and then up at her. "You want to take a nap?"

"No," she assured him even as a yawn snuck out. "I want to spend time with you."

"I want to read a book that Grandma got me," Teddy said with a grin as he stood and tugged her to standing. "I'll be able to concentrate on it while you both sleep."

He half dragged her back to the house she went up to put James down in his cot. Thankfully he slept through the transfer. She fell in to bed, fully clothed, and instantly passed into a sleep filled with vivid dreams.

She woke later and turned towards her alarm clock to find a tray waiting with a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of orange juice. Just by how it was put together Ginny knew that Teddy had made it for her. The tears began to flow again. He was the sweetest, most thoughtful child. She didn't feel like eating; thought there was a good shot that she'd throw up if she did but she wouldn't risk hurting his feelings for anything.

Ginny dragged herself up and pulled the tray over to slowly eat the sandwich. Amazingly she felt better after the bit of food and the juice. She carried the tray downstairs and went straight over to give Teddy a hug. James began to scream and with a sigh, she went to get the baby from his room.

Harry arrived home looking worn around the edges just in time to say goodnight to Teddy, and to tuck him in with a story. Ginny lay in bed nursing James, who for the moment was nursing contentedly and not pulling off every few seconds in pain. Ginny had to fight her own cries of pain that the new teeth were causing her tender breasts. By the time Harry got into their room, James had fallen off the breast, into a milk coma.

"Come here," Harry said quietly as he picked up his son and carried him off to his room.

Ginny dragged herself to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She'd seriously considered just ignoring brushing her teeth as she'd done more than once in the last few months, but she really had to pee and that couldn't wait. She didn't know how her mum had done this so many times and much of the time she felt like the biggest failure ever.

She opened the door and automatically glanced at the calendar that was tacked to the wall. _What day is it…_ she tried to add in her head but couldn't.

Harry came through the door and pulled her back against him, kissing her neck. "Rough day?"

"Mmm," she agreed, wishing she could just lean back and fall asleep. "What day is it?"

"The twenty-seventh," Harry told her.

She opened one eye and found the date, which was circled in red. "Potion day." She sighed heavily and reached into the medicine cabinet for the potion bottles. Because she was nursing she could only take the once-a-month contraceptive potion. If she took a bigger dose it would dry up her milk instantly. She uncorked the vial and downed it in one go. She looked at the bottles in the cabinet and tried to count them, but they seemed to go in and out of focus. Did she have more than she should? Try as she might she couldn't remember how many she was supposed to have left. It didn't matter. She hadn't had a cycle since she'd had James, and there was a good chance that him breastfeeding was keeping her from being able to get pregnant. _But better safe than sorry, _she thought.

"Come on, Gin," Harry said gently as he steered her back to bed. "I'll get up with him tonight."

"No," Ginny protested. It was her job. "You have to work tomorrow."

There was a pause and she glanced over to see him looking at her with concern. "Tomorrow is Saturday. I wasn't going to work."

"Oh," she nodded as if she hadn't forgotten what day of the week it was. She climbed back into bed, still clothed. She was too tired to get changed.

Hands reached for the waistband of her yoga pants that had become her staple after James had been born and he slid them down. Ginny lifted her hips without even opening her eyes.

He got in next to her and pulled her into his arms. She breathed in his scent.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently as he kissed her temple.

"Teddy asked about Hope," she explained as she relaxed into the comfort of the bed.

Harry sighed heavily. "I was hoping we had more time."

She shook her head, but couldn't fight off the exhaustion anymore.

August 23rd 2005

Ginny had to keep busy. If she didn't keep busy on Hope's birthday she would brood and fall into a deep hole that would take weeks to pull herself from. She cleaned the kitchen, top to bottom, played with James way more than he wanted to be played with, and cooked several meals to have on hand.

She wore herself out and had hours left in the day. She glanced over at James who was banging on her pots with a wooden spoon and fought back a sob. He didn't know he had a big sister, as he beat a happy rat-a-tat on the pots. He didn't know that his mummy was hurting and part of her hoped he never would know it. Ginny wished she could keep the pain from him, even as she knew it wasn't possible.

Ginny looked around, trying to find something else to do and spotted the jogging stroller that sat near the front door. She scowled at it, but looking down at her shapeless t-shirt and baggy shorts she knew she should go for a run.

She didn't want to run. She was so tired. Even after James had gotten through the initial round of teething her energy hadn't come back. He'd gotten into the habit of getting up to nurse several times in the middle of the night and they hadn't been able to break him of it yet, but he was only eleven months old. They still had time.

Sighing heavily she went to get socks and her trainers. She was a couple pounds heavier now than what she'd been when James was born. She couldn't stop eating, didn't want to exercise and the weight was really starting to pack on.

James crawled over to her just as she laced up her shoe and she picked him up and pushing the stroller one handed, she made it out the door to go for a run.

Ginny didn't even make it half a mile before she had to stop. Her stomach rolled as she bent double and put her hands on her knees, trying to fight off the nausea. She was so tired of feeling sick and tired. James needed to sleep through the night.

_Tonight Harry is going to have to get up with him,_ Ginny thought as she turned the stroller and started to slowly walk back to the house. She didn't care if he had to work tomorrow. She was beat, and couldn't take much more.

James had fallen asleep in the stroller by the time they made it back to the house. She left it outside and picked James up gingerly to haul him upstairs and lay him in his bed.

She stared down into his sweet, peaceful face and gently ran a hand over his dark locks. He was worth it. Her heart swelled with love as she watched her sleeping son, and knew she'd do it all over again for him. James sighed and rolled over and she quietly exited the room to go get a shower. She stripped in her room and went to the bathroom. Ginny froze as she looked in the mirror.

Her body was gone. In its place was a lumpy, stretch marked, mass that she barely recognized. It was no wonder she and Harry hadn't made love in weeks. She was a cow.

Fighting off the tears, she showered quickly and dressed again. Ginny crawled into bed and hugged the pillow. She didn't want to look like this.

_But_, a gentle voice whispered in her head, _you look like this because of your son._

Ginny bit her lip and stared out the window into the fading light of the afternoon sun. Hope's grave could be seen if she was standing at the window. She'd have given up anything to keep her daughter alive.

It was really unfair that Harry would not want her when she had gotten dumpy for his son.

"Gin?"

She turned scowling to see Harry in the door. "Why are you here?"

His eyebrow raised but he came in and closed the door. "I live here. I wanted to come home early today." He sat on the edge of the bed looking her. "What's wrong?"

"You're a selfish blighter!" Ginny growled feeling so many emotions run straight through that she wouldn't have been able to separate them to save her life. "I can't believe you don't want me anymore!"

His green eyes filled with confusion and wariness. "I do want you."

"You haven't touched me in weeks," she said accusingly, pointing a threatening finger at him. "You can't just decide you want out just because I got fat! I got fat for you!" 

He studied her carefully, like she was a bomb about to go off. "You aren't fat and you've been asleep by nine every night."

"You're never home!" Ginny barked out, wanting to sit up but found that her head spun when she tried. "I am so tired and I feel like crap and you're never here!"

"Yeah," he said quietly, trying to reach out to her but she smacked his hand away. "I know. It will be finished soon."

"Just go away," she breathed out as the tears started to fall. She buried her face into her pillow and sobbed. "I just want this day over with and you're not helping."

She heard him get up and start walking to the door. Panic flooded her and she sat enough to chuck a pillow at his retreating back. "Coward!" Ginny shouted at him, glaring at his back. "Can't even face me crying!"

Harry turned slowly and eyed her speculatively. Something flashed in his gaze, but at that moment James let out a cry. "I'm going to get him."

"No," she spit out trying to stand. "He's my son, it's my job."

"You stay there," Harry said quietly, but with steel threaded through every syllable. Something in his expression kept her in bed. "I'll be back with him in a minute."

True to his word he was back a minute later, with James in a fresh nappy and ready for a cuddle and to nurse. She took her son and pulled up her shirt so he could get access as he lay next to her in bed. She had to breathe in deeply as the pain bit deeply into her breast. His latch had been horrible for months; ever since he'd gotten teeth it was painful every time he nursed.

She looked down into his contented face; his cheeks still flushed from sleep and felt more tears come.

Harry stood there silently watching them.

A knocked sounded at the partially opened door. Ginny looked over and blinked at Martha who stood in the doorway. "What-"

Harry didn't look surprised to see her. "Thanks for coming," he told the midwife.

Ginny glared at him. He'd called the midwife on her for a bad mood? Did he think she was PMSing? "I don't need to see you," she told her, more rudely than she'd meant. "I'm fine."

Martha came over and ran a hand over James' sleep tousled hair. "I'm sure you are, but you know it's best to have a look." She pulled out her wand and ran in over Ginny who continued to glare at her rotten husband.

Then she muttered a familiar spell and Ginny looked back at the midwife in confusion before her mouth fell open.

Harry watched Martha run her wand over Ginny, fervently hoped that it was pregnancy that was making his wife nuts and that she wasn't under the Imperious Curse. After Ginny had gone off on him he'd gone to get James and sent a Patronus to the midwife, begging her to come immediately. He edged slowly over to the bed, studiously ignoring his wife's glare, so he could see better just as she muttered the spell that would show what was going on. His mind froze at what he saw.

The image of a baby, but not a tiny baby, floated above Ginny's stomach. This one was a lot longer than his hand. He was sleeping, a hand near his face, with his legs curled up. Harry felt his knees go weak as he sank onto the bed.

James popped his head up and stared at the apparition that was floating above his mummy's belly. He crawled over and waved a fat fist through the hologram, his hand moving harmlessly through the image.

"Well…" Martha said, starting to laugh. "It looks like you're having a baby."

"Oh my…" Ginny whimpered. She looked over at Harry and any hurt feelings he may have had fled at the blank look on her face. He scooted over the kissed her lips, feeling her trembling. "Harry… I'm-"

"Ginny," he whispered as he ran a hand over her cheek. At least this explained her bizarre outburst. He chuckled. "We're having another baby."

"In about four and a half months, by the looks of it," Martha said genially. She scooped James up in her arms and hugged him in. "You're a big brother, James."

Harry and Ginny looked at her too dumbfounded to do more than ask than, "How far along?"

"About twenty weeks," she told them. "You'll be due in the first part of January."

James wiggled and she put him down so he could crawl over to the laundry basket and dump it. It was a favorite game of his.

Harry scooted further back on the bed so he could pull Ginny more fully into his arms. He couldn't believe it. On Hope's birthday, the day she'd died, they were finding out about another new life coming into their home. His wife burrowed into his arms and he felt her shoulders shake.

"Do you want to know what the baby is?" Martha asked.

"He's a boy," Ginny said as she stared at their sleeping child who looked remarkably like James. "It's really easy to tell." She looked up into his face. "We're having another boy. Oh Merlin…" tears began again.

Martha took her hand and Harry watched the concern cover her face. "You are severely run down right now. All of your vitals are weak."

Harry felt guilt swamp him as the last several months came flooding back to him. How many days had he worked late? How many times had he let Ginny get up with James when he was crying in the middle of the night? How often had he seen her exhausted and yet still moving through the day? He hadn't done enough to help her. He'd let her take the bulk of the load at home and the result had been that she'd been so drained that she didn't even realize that she was pregnant.

_She should have been taking it easy, sleeping extra… _he thought, guiltily, recalling how much care had they put into keeping Hope alive and yet he'd left her this time to-

"I'm putting you on bed rest," Martha told her firmly. "You're allowed to go to the loo, and that's it. Otherwise you're in bed."

"I can't be in bed," Ginny protested instantly. "I have James to take care of."

"You're going to need to bring in help," Martha said, brooking no argument. "Ginny, you're health is not good right now. If you don't take care of yourself you're going to end up in St. Mungo's. I'd rather you be allowed to stay here at home."

"It's fine," Harry said instantly. "I'll take off from work."

"Good," Martha said even as Ginny protested. "You can't!"

Harry shook his head. "No arguments, I'm on holiday."

"You just became the head of the department!" Ginny told him tearfully as she rubbed at her brow. "Oh… I'm due just a few weeks before Hermione!" Color flooded her face. "How did I miss this? Why didn't I feel him moving?"

Fear flooded Ginny's expression but Martha shook her head in reassurance. "There isn't anything wrong with this little boy. I'm betting he's not the jumping bean that James is."

At that moment James knocked over a picture frame and grinned at them happily. "Dada!"

Harry felt an ache in his heart as he went over and picked up his son. He cuddled James close to him as he heard Martha explain that she'd be back the next morning to do a full exam. Soon he'd have another baby and it was relief and joy mixed with remorse for all Ginny had been through. He took James out into the hallway and sent out a second Patronus, asking Molly to come as soon as Audrey picked up her girls from her.

He needed some time with his wife.

Molly arrived about twenty minutes after Martha had left. He met her at the fireplace. Her face was washed in concern. "What's the matter?"

"Ginny's pregnant," Harry told her as he handed over James who was trying to throw himself from Harry's arms to reach him grandmother.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Molly smiled as she hugged James, but it faltered. "What's the matter? You look worried. Is something-"

"She's on bed rest," Harry said as he ran a hand distractedly through his hair. It was times like this that he desperately missed his old house-elf the most. Kreacher had lived for two years after they'd moved into Ivy Run before passing peacefully in his sleep. He looked into his mother-in-law's face. "She's twenty weeks pregnant."

Molly's jaw dropped. "But… why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"We found out forty-five minutes ago," Harry told her nodding at her dumbfounded look. "Ginny has been too busy running herself into the ground taking care of James to notice, and I haven't been any help. I'm going to take off work to look after James, but with today being Hope's birthday… I just need some time with her."

"Of course," Molly said, kissing James' brow. "I'll keep him happy so you two can talk."

Harry hugged her hard and murmured thanks as he went back upstairs. Ginny was still where he'd left her and now that he looked closely, he saw the pallor of her skin and the heavy bags under her eyes. She wasn't watching him, but looking out the window as night fell. Still, she was so beautiful that she took his breath away. "Your mum is here."

She nodded.

He walked over as sat next to her, taking her hand and lacing their fingers together. "I'm sorry," she whispered, not meeting his eyes.

"For what?" Harry asked. He was the one who needed to apologize.

"For calling you a coward… and sniping at you," she turned her bloodshot eyes back to his and he saw that her brown orbs were filled with regret. "I can't believe I called you a coward!"

Harry couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. "Honestly, it was refreshing. No one else has the guts to call me a coward."

A small smile tugged at her lips. "It isn't true, though."

He shrugged. In this case it was true, but he didn't think she was up for the argument. "It doesn't matter."

"What made you think to call Martha?" she asked him curiously, as she licked her dry lips.

"Ah," he hedged. "Well… I was looking at you and it was as if my Ginny was gone, replaced by an imposter. After you called me a coward it occurred to me that maybe you were being influenced by something else. I was hoping it was a baby and that I wasn't going to have to call in back up Aurors. That would have been embarrassing trying to explain needing protection from my wife. Between Imperiused and hormones, I'll take the hormones."

She crossed her arms. "I should hex you for that."

"You should," Harry assured her, trying to sound contrite as he reached for her wand that was lying on the bedside table and held it out for her.

She didn't take it, just continued to glare at him. "You aren't funny."

"Luv," he smiled wryly as he put her wand back and tenderly kissed her cheek. "I'm very funny. Your sense of humor is gone."

Ginny sighed heavily and let her head fall back against the pillows. "How could I not know that I'm pregnant?"

"You've been too exhausted to even think about it," Harry reminded her gently, cupping her cheek. "Gin, I'm so sorry I've left everything to you around here. I knew you were shattered but I let work get in the way. Maybe if I hadn't been gone so much we'd have figured it out earlier."

"How did this happen?" Ginny asked him suddenly. "I know I was taking the potion!"

"Martha counted the bottles before she left," Harry informed her with a grin. "We have one too many, so it looks like you skipped one. At least it's harmless if you're already pregnant, since you kept taking it."

She closed her eyes. "I can't do anything right."

"Hey," he chided her. "Don't say that! You're doing a great job."

"I can't remember to take the bleeding potion, and I can't take care of James and the house by myself, and I can't even figure out that I'm pregnant." Ginny started to cry in earnest. Harry pulled her into his arms and lay down with her. "Today is Hope's birthday… I was so miserable, and I just wanted to stay busy. I tried going for a run so I could work off some of this fat-"

"Stop!" Harry said forcefully. "You aren't fat!"

"I guess I'm not since I'm almost five months pregnant," she said with a hiccup.

Harry propped himself over her and ran a hand down her side. "Even if you weren't, you're not fat."

"I am…" she said miserably. "I weigh more now than when James was born! I haven't got any clue how he got in there." Ginny put her hand on her stomach, which now that Harry was paying attention looked like a pregnant belly.

Harry bent and kissed her neck suggestively. "If you don't know how he got in there, I'm obviously doing something wrong."

"Harry…" she said in exasperation. "Why aren't you upset with me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be upset?"

"Because!" She huffed like it should be obvious to him. "Because I got pregnant again without meaning to!"

He shrugged trying not to look too smug. "I helped with that."

"Well… because I shouted at you…" her lower lip quivered.

"I deserved it," he said evenly even as his gut twisted with regret. "You snapped because you're grieving, exhausted, rundown and pregnant. I contributed to all of those except the grief."

She sighed and shook her head. "You can't take off of work. You're the head!"

"What are they going to do?" Harry retorted. "Fire me? I didn't want the bleeding promotion anyway! We don't need the money."

"You love your job," Ginny reminded him softly. "You enjoy what you do."

"I love you more," he replied honestly. "I love James more and…" he bent as he pulled up her shirt and kissed her stomach. Love swamped him as he thought of this new baby. It never failed to amaze his just how fast he could fall in love. "I love this little guy." He rested his head on her thighs, and kept him hand on her stomach. "I'm…" he beamed goofily up at her. "I'm going to be a dad again. What are we going to name him?"

"Albus," she answered instantly, love filling her eyes as she really smiled for the first time.

Harry considered it and nodded. It was a good name. "Al for short, yeah?" When she nodded he grinned and kissed her belly. "Alright, Al. You are a really huge surprise."

She groaned. "My brothers are never going to let me live this down! Halfway through a pregnancy and I didn't even know!"

"Nah," Harry lied. "They won't say anything. They'll just be happy that Al is coming." He was going to have a talk with all of them and make sure they didn't tease her. Most of the time Ginny could hold her own; this wasn't going to be one of those times. However, he rather thought they were going to have something to say to him… not her. "Hermione had said that she wished we were having a baby right now, remember? She wants to have a playmate for their baby."

"I guess," she muttered, and then let out a noise that was a mixture of 'uhg' and 'oh no'. "I'm supposed to mind baby Rose once Hermione goes back to work! How am I going to do that with two babies?"

Harry shrugged. "We've got time to work that out. Maybe we'll hire a house-elf. Neville told me last week that a few were looking to leave Hogwarts."

"No!" Ginny scowled at him. "I can do it!" Then her face fell. "No, I can't. I'm useless as a mum.

"You are not!" Harry said, feeling the prickles of anger seep back in. "Gin, you have to stop this. James' teething was worse than anything your mum had ever seen! He cried constantly, he didn't sleep which means you didn't sleep. Four nights out of five you were up all night, and then the next day he just kept crying. You were pregnant, exhausted, and nursing and now you're taking a well-deserved break. You made it through that worst, and James is back to his happy, mischievous, energetic self. I am so proud of you for how you've handled this and pretty damn disgusted with myself for not helping you more. This is my fault more than yours."

"You had to work-" she began but he shook his head.

"No, I chose to focus on the job because you seemed like you had it under control, and you did for the most part," he let out a harsh breath and looked away. "I should have done more."

Ginny was silent for a long time. "You really still want me?"

"More today than ever," he promised and came up to kiss her again surprised that she had to ask. "I can prove it if you want."

"With Mum downstairs?" She shook her head. "Later."

"You're always asleep later," he teased and held on to her. "You know, I didn't expect it to end up this way today."

"I didn't either," she admitted, stroking a hand through his hair. "I thought we'd go down to her grave and have a good cry. I might still have a good cry, just up here."

Harry kissed her temple. "We can have that cry together." He cupped her belly. "Then celebrate that we're having another baby."

Harry stared at his brothers-in-law, well, most of them anyway. Charlie was still in Romania chasing his dragons, but Harry had sent an owl to him and he expected a Howler at some point.

Every face showed the exact same shock as they gaped at him from his kitchen table at nearly eleven o'clock that evening. He'd sent messages and they'd come, well after both Ginny and James were fast asleep.

He stood at the head of the table, waiting for the explosion that he knew would soon follow.

Ron broke the silence first. "You have to be effing kidding me!" 

"Ron," Percy chided gently, but he too was frowning. "How did you get this far in without noticing?"

"Is that why my sister has looked like hell for months?" Bill asked quietly, his voice menacing.

George didn't say anything at all; he regarded him with a closed expression that Harry knew wouldn't last long.

Harry sighed and sat down. "I messed up."

"Damn right you did!" Ron practically yelled, his face going completely red. "How the ruddy hell do you not notice? Here we thought she was just tired from James not sleeping and you're telling me-"

His stomach churned from the guilt. "I messed up," he said again even though he knew there was no excuse for it. "I should have seen it, but-"

"Yes, you should have!" Bill growled, standing up and striding away from the table, fury running through every line of his body. He turned and the rage was just barely below the surface. "You're supposed to be taking care of her!" 

"I know," Harry swallowed hard at the bile. "I let her down."

"I should beat you senseless for this," Bill said darkly and they both knew that Harry would let him. It might make them both feel better for what had happened.

Percy held up a placating hand. "Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded, more grateful than he could express that his inattentiveness at home hadn't caused more damage. "Yeah, he looks great. Ginny wants to name him Albus. He's…" his throat closed as he remembered looking at his sleeping child's face. "He's really cute. He looks a lot like James."

"Twenty weeks though…" Ron hissed out, clearly not ready to let go of his anger. "Harry, Hermione is eighteen weeks pregnant. I couldn't have missed that fact. This isn't even the first time Ginny's been pregnant!"

Harry gazed at his best friend. "I know, Ron." He could make excuses all he wanted, but the fact was that he'd let Ginny handle everything at home. James had started teething and he hadn't wanted Harry. She was so capable at everything that he'd let her get on with it. He'd become complacent and it could have cost him his wife and child. He'd never forgive himself for that and he wasn't going to ever make that mistake again. He couldn't let her lose another child.

"How did you finally figure it out?" George asked, breaking his silence.

"She, uh…" Harry shrugged helplessly. "She called me a coward and chucked a pillow at me."

George's lip twitched. "Well, she was right on that."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Yeah, she was. I didn't know how to help with James' screaming and I let her deal with it."

Bill started towards him, but was brought up short when George, who hadn't moved from his seat, grabbed the back of his shirt. "He's being honest, Bill. We can't fault him for that."

"You were supposed to take care of her!" Bill said again, his scars standing out as pale slashes across his red face. "That's what you signed up for."

"I messed up." Harry said again as his culpability ate at him. "I could have cost my wife and child their lives!" He got up. He couldn't sit through this anymore and he was thankful that he'd made sure that he'd warded the upper rooms so no one would hear this shouting match. "It's been seven years today since we lost Hope." Tears prickled behind his eyes and he made no move to fight them. The enormity of just how badly things could have gone was not lost on him and this time it would have been completely his fault. No one said anything and he slowly turned back to them. "Ginny's afraid you're going to tease her about this… for not knowing."

Again four shocked faces stared at him. "We wouldn't do that," Percy said quietly.

"No," Ron agreed, looking sick at the thought. "I'm hacked off at you. She doesn't need any more rubbish."

Bill looked uncomfortably close to tears and he turned away. "Definitely not."

"This is on you," George shrugged. "You're going to catch hell for it, and we're never going to let you live this down, but Ginny… no. We protect our sister full stop."

Harry nodded, knowing they'd reached an understanding. "Just… I needed to make sure you understood. She's on bed rest. She's not as sick as she was when she was pregnant with Hope, but she's still pretty damn sick."

"You're staying home?" Bill said, finally turning back with his features composed. "You're going to make sure she takes care of herself?" 

"Yes," Harry told him firmly. "I'm on holiday for a few weeks and then if needed I'll work from home." He turned back to Ron. "She's worried about what will happen after with Rose."

Ron's face was blank for a moment before comprehension dawned. "She was going to mind Rose for us."

"Don't change that plan yet, at least not with her," Harry stated flatly. "She's feeling like she can't do anything right and if you change things, then it will only make her feel worse, like she's let you down. We'll work it out, but right now…" his voice trailed off when Ron nodded his understanding.

"I don't know about you two," George said mildly. "But after how well she dealt with James I think she could handle just about anything."

All of them turned to look at him. "What?" Percy asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh come on," George started to laugh. "None of us could stand hearing that crying for hours on end! It was unnerving; after even ten minutes I'd start to wish my other ear had been blasted off too. I think Ginny's a hero for handling it the way she did. Then on top of that she was pregnant. She deserves a medal."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. He knew she'd been upset that James was in pain, but it was almost like she accepted that she couldn't make it better and went on to be as comforting as she possibly could be. He'd come home, his son would be screaming and helplessness would overwhelm him as he rocked this child that he couldn't do anything for. It was easy now to look back and see just how he'd slipped in to working longer hours; how he'd let the job eat up more and more time. He'd left her to deal and she'd let him get away with it. Harry glanced up towards the stairs and thought that she should have just hexed him and left him to rot.

"That's true," Percy agreed after a moment. "Molly and Lucy never cried like that. I don't know how I'd have handled it."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, feeling much older than his twenty-five years. When he opened them again his brothers were all staring at him. "I really do get it. I made a-"

"Harry?" Ginny's soft call filtered down and they all froze, looking up to see her at the top of the landing.

Harry gave his wand a small flick, removing the Silencing Charms that kept her from hearing them even as he bolted for the stairs. "You're supposed to be in bed," he chided gently as he ran up the stairs two at a time to reach her.

Her tired eyes met his briefly before turning back to look down at her brothers and he saw the trepidation. "I needed to use the loo and you weren't there."

"Come on," he put a hand around her waist and tried to move her back to their room.

She didn't move. "What's up?"

"I was telling them about Al," Harry said, grinning at her. "They're all really happy for us, like I said they'd be."

Ginny turned to look at him and several swear words filtered through his brain. She knew better. "Why are they really here?"

"I did tell them about the baby," Harry answered evasively. "Come on, back to bed."

She looked once more towards her brothers, who were all standing near the table and then nodded, allowing him to guide her back to their room. He tucked her in, his hand resting on the swell of her belly as remorse gnawed at him even further. "Why are they here?" she asked again, covering his hand with hers over their baby. "Why is everyone upset?"

Harry tried to keep his expression neutral but knew from her face that he was failing. "They're mad at me." Before she could say anything, he kissed her and silenced her protest. "Ginny, they have every right to be mad at me. I'm mad at myself."

"I'm the one they should be mad at," she whimpered as tears filled her eyes. "I forgot to take the potion."

"It isn't about that," Harry correctly gently. "I'm really glad you forgot to take it. I…" he was too choked up to speak, so he laid his lips on her belly.

"I am too. I'm happy about the baby."

He nodded and met her weary eyes. "This is a guy thing."

She let out an impatient huff. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," Harry answered back. "It's the way it goes. When you're pregnant, it's on me to take care of you and I bollixed that up completely. I expect the same from them. I expect Ron to be taking care of Hermione and if he weren't, there would be hell to pay. I need to pay up."

Ginny studied him for a long moment, and he let her think. He knew she knew this. She'd lived with six boys for so many years and she knew about the code they held themselves to. She knew that when one fell short, they were going to come in and hold the delinquent accountable. "We didn't know I was pregnant."

"We didn't know because I didn't know how to deal with James' crying," Harry admitted as the shame filled him.

"Oh, Harry," she sighed exasperatedly. "No one knew how to deal with his crying! He drove me completely round the twist before I gave up and accepted that I couldn't do anything for him but be there."

"I wasn't here," he said flatly. "I let you do all the work."

Ginny was quiet for a long moment, her brown eyes intent upon his face. "I let you get away with it."

"Still, though…" he paused at the hurt in her eyes. "Why did you let me get away with it?"

"I…" Tears flooded her eyes as she covered her face in her hands, sobs shaking her whole body. Harry scrambled up to pull her onto his lap murmuring comfort. Her words were muffled by his shoulder, but the still rang through their bedroom. "I wanted to be enough. I d-didn't want to fail again."

"You aren't failing anything," Harry chided softly. "You're a great mum, Ginny."

"I failed Hope," Ginny whispered and his heart broke. "I wasn't enough for her."

Harry felt his own eyes swim and a small movement made him look up to see Ron's stricken face illuminated in the door. His brother-in-law backed away silently and Harry ran his hand through Ginny's thick hair. "You didn't fail her. You haven't failed James."

"I can't do anything-"

"Stop!" Harry shook his head, interrupting her. He wanted to be frustrated, but knew getting upset with her when she was pregnant was not only counterproductive but also useless. She wasn't really thinking about any of this rationally. "You are an amazing mum, Ginny. George thinks you deserve a medal for how well you've done with James."

She sniffed and gradually the tears faded into a huge yawn. Harry handed her a glass of water from the bedside table and she drank deeply. He knew they had a long road, and that there were wounds here that hadn't ever healed; wounds that she hid from him and maybe even from herself. For tonight this was enough. He kissed her brow, loving the feel of her in his arms. He reached down and placed a hand on her belly. The second it settled, a small _thump_ hit him and they laughed, both amazed and relieved.

"I guess he does wiggle about some," Ginny said, rubbing her stomach happily. "Harry?"

"Yeah?" he asked as he helped her settle back down with her pillows.

Her red-rimmed eyes met his. "Tell my brothers they can't kill you, okay?"

"Got it," he said with a gentle kiss to her lips. He left; closing the door behind him and putting the Silencing Charms back up. Slowly he made his way back down to the kitchen and found only Ron still there. He looked around questioningly.

"They left," Ron explained shortly, "We decided I could deal with you."

He nodded and slumped into one of the chairs at the table. "Ginny says you can't kill me."

Ron sat slowly across from him, his expression devastated. "She's not doing well."

"No," Harry agreed, feeling the ache in his gut. "I don't think I realized just how bad it was. I'm going to speak to Martha tomorrow about a therapist."

"I was coming up to reassure her," Ron said, running a hand through his hair and sitting back. "Bloody hell, I can't believe she still feels guilty over that."

Harry shrugged helplessly. "We'll deal with it."

"You're on probation," Ron said dully, staring at him. "We've decided that's all we can do for now. Especially since Ginny won't let us kill you."

Harry had expected that. George had ended up on probation first. He'd gotten Angelina pregnant while they'd still been dating. Ginny wouldn't ever confirm it, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had happened during one of their hide-and-go-seek games. George had gotten the notice from the Ministry the day that Angelina figured it out, and instead of manning up George had gone on a week-long bender that required most of Harry's contacts to track him down. After they'd sobered him up, they'd all sat him down to talk to him and let him cry it out with them, mostly over Fred. Then he'd went to the Ministry and they'd arranged for a wedding a few days later. He'd been on probation for months with his brothers after that until he'd proved he wasn't going to go off again.

"I deserve it," Harry said hoarsely. "I deserve worse."

Ron shook his head and eyed him shrewdly. "Harry, I doubt very much that Ginny's the only one grieving right now. You both should talk to a therapist."

He closed his eyes as he felt the hot pricks of tears as his daughter's birthday slipped away.

A/N: I hope you're enjoying. One more part to the prologue and then we move on to the main story. Thank you Arnel for beta'ing!


	3. Prologue Part 3

June 2007

"Harry?"

"Hm?" He looked up from the report he'd been reading in bed, pushing his glasses further up his nose to see his wife walking back in from the bathroom. Her long red hair fell down her back in soft waves and her truly amazing breasts, thanks to Al refusing to wean, were hugged in one of his old t-shirts that came down to just below her knickers. A slow smile spread over his face as he watched her climb into bed next to him and he set the report off to the side.

Her eyes pulled him in, sinking him under the spell she always wove over him. Her face was alight with mischief and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. He couldn't dwell on it too long, though. Her soft lips were calling to be kissed. Before he could kiss her, she spoke. "I don't want to take the potion tomorrow."

His brain stuttered for a second, trying to place what potion she meant. Then it clicked. Harry schooled his featured as joy flooded him. He watched her expression and the unnamed emotion became clear. It was nerves. "So… let me get this straight…" he drawled out, saying each word as slowly as he could. "Either we're going to have another baby or we're never having sex again. That about it?" 

Ginny bit her lip and this time it wasn't the seduction that it normally was. "That's about it."

Harry nodded slowly, pretending to think about it. When her bottom lip began to quiver he gave it up and pulled her down for a kiss, startling a gasp from her. "I guess we're having another baby," he breathed against her mouth before deepening the kiss.

"You're okay with this?" She asked, forcing him back a bit.

He grinned and pulled her in again. "Well, I was hoping you'd forget to take the potion again, but I guess we can do it this way." Harry laughed and ducked the pillow that came flying towards his head.

April 2008

Ginny groaned and swayed as she waddled around their bedroom at two in the morning. "I can't have her now, Harry! It's too early. Both the boys were weeks late."

Harry watched his watch counting the minutes between the contractions. "Martha will be here soon. Maybe she'll stop the labor." 

"Owwwww, bloody hell," Ginny ground out as she came over to lean against him.

Harry stood and helped her to sway her hips. "She'll be okay, Gin," Harry promised, trying to reassure himself as much as his wife. "I know it's early, but you're still thirty five weeks along."

"What if she isn't?" Ginny cried out as another wave hit her.

Harry checked his watch and started to panic. The contractions were getting really close now. She never had very long labors but at less than forty five minutes this was going to a record. "She will be!" Harry told her firmly. "Do you want to get in the tub?"

"No!" Ginny shouted as she knelt down and put her head on the bed. "Oh fuck this hurts! Why do I always forget how much this hurts?"

_iSurvival of the species, /i_ Harry thought, but knew better than to say it. He'd been married for almost ten years now; he wasn't stupid. There was a call from downstairs and Harry heard Martha making her way up to them. "Ginny," Martha said coming to kneel down next to her, putting her hand on Ginny's lower back, starting to kneed her knuckled into her to help relieve some of the pain. "Are you ready to have this baby?"

"Nooo," Ginny moaned as another wave hit. "It's too early."

"We saw her practicing breathing last week when we took a look at her," Martha reminded her calmly. "She's telling you she's ready to come."

"I want to get in the tub," Ginny moaned and Harry hopped up, thankful for something to do.

Just as he finished tapping the bath Molly poked her head in. Her hair was liberally streaked with silver now, but her eyes were bright with excitement at her youngest grandchild's imminent arrival. "Is the bath ready?" She asked.

Harry nodded. "Did you check on the boys?"

"Yes, and they're still out," Molly said and winced as Ginny let out an ear piercing shriek. "It's always amazed me what kids will sleep through."

Harry walked back in to his bedroom and found Ginny stripped out of her nightgown. "You," she growled at him. "Get changed!"

It was always like this when she was in labor, but he didn't take it personally. She was so tough that he knew she had to be in a lot of pain to be crying out and cursing like she was. He'd seen her arm shattered with a Bludger and she didn't do more than wince and swear at the ref when he said that she had to leave the pitch.

The women left and Harry quickly got into his swim trunks to join her in the tub.

"Oh fuuuck, ouch, damn it!" Ginny said twisting in the water as Harry settled in to help her in any way he could.

"You're in transition," Martha told her calmly. "Ginny you're so close, just minutes. I know it hurts, but you are doing great."

Ginny awkwardly sat back, resting against Harry with her legs propped up on the bath's tile wall. "Ohhhhhh! OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" She screamed. "Pushing!"

"I see her head," Martha coached. "Ginny, reach down and get her."

Ginny reached down and seconds later Harry saw a tiny red head pop out into the bath water, followed immediately by her body. Ginny grasped her under the arms and pulled their daughter up on to her bare chest. Ginny burst into tears and Harry had a few of his own running down his cheeks as well as he wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter:

his daughter who was screaming her head off.

Harry sent thanks up to whoever was listening that she was alive and healthy.

"Shh Lily," Ginny crooned through her tears as she cupped their child to her breast. "Shh, Mummy has you darling. It's okay."

"Oh, Ginny," Molly cried. "You did it, sweetheart."

Ginny beamed and turned her sweaty face around to Harry's for a kiss. "She's okay."

"Yeah," Harry said, too choked up to say more.

A few minutes later Ginny was settled back in bed, cleaned up and with a sleeping Lily in her arms. "She's so small," Ginny said running a finger down the baby's perfect cheek. "The boys were huge."

"She's five pounds, two ounces, but with a very healthy set of lungs," Martha promised. "She was ready to come."

Harry reached out his arms and took his tiny daughter to cradle her against his chest, forcibly reminded of having done this many years before with Hope. Then he'd only needed one hand to hold his daughter. This time he needed both arms and there was only joy with a tiny bit of longing for what could have been. Harry kissed her soft, red hair and told her that he loved her. She yawned her pretty little mouth and turned her face into him.

"I've sent word to the family," Molly said, coming back in carrying a very sleep three-and-a-half-year-old James on her hip. "I also found someone sitting in the hall."

James looked at his parents. "Did da baby come out?"

Ginny held out his arms for him and he clambered up onto the bed and into her lap. "Yes, do you want to see her?"

"Mmm," James said noncommittally as he snuggled into his mother's warm embrace.

Harry brought the baby over and sat down on the edge of the bed to show James his baby sister.

James frowned at her. "She's all wed."

Harry chuckled. "You were all red, too, when you were this small."

James peered around the blanket further and Harry knew he was studying this new creature with interest. "Babies smell."

"So did you," Harry informed him very seriously. "You had the worst nappies."

James grinned proudly at that, his bright brown eyes shining.

Lily started to mew and tried to latch on to her blanket. "Time to nurse," Harry said, passing her over to Ginny.

"Daddy," James said holding out his arms.

Harry picked up his sturdy little boy and held him close. "I love you, James. You're a good big brother."

James nodded, knowing it already. "I wuv you, Daddy."

Harry kissed him. "It's still night time, though. Back to bed with you."

"Aww," James whined, but without real heat. His head was heavy on Harry's shoulder as he carried him down the hallway to his bedroom. After tucking him in, Harry went over to Al's room to see make sure his middle child was still asleep.

He wasn't. Al was sitting up in bed, his thumb firmly in his mouth, his stuffed bear clutched tight in his other arm. At two, Al didn't say much. He mostly let James talk while he watched. Where James would go out exploring, Al tended to hang back and wait. "Hey, Al," Harry said, walking over to scoop his youngest son into his arms. "Do you want to go see the new baby?"

Al nodded against him and Harry carried him back down the hall. He entered his room and found Ginny alone with the baby and Lily already nursing. Harry came over and crouched down so that Al could get a good look at his baby sister.

Al leaned his dark head in and looked at her. Then he held out his bear for Lily and dropped it on her. She didn't notice, too intent on her meal to appreciate the generous gift. "Bear," he told Lily pulling his thumb from his mouth long enough to utter the single word.

Harry and Ginny exchanged startled looked. Bear was Al's favorite. "You want Lily to have your bear?" Ginny asked gently.

Al nodded, thumb still in his mouth.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, boosting him around so he could see his son's small face.

Al nodded again, green eyes meeting green.

"You can change your mind later if you want to," Ginny told him, holding out her free arm.

Harry carefully put Al next to Ginny and he lay still against her, watching Lily nurse. James would just as likely have hopped down in a flash, but Al was a cuddler and he always had been.

Al reached out a single pudgy finger and touched Lily's hand gently. "Wiwy."

Ginny kissed his cheek. "That's right. Now you're the big brother, Al."

Al looked so serious for a moment that Harry thought he might cry, but then he smiled a radiant smile and looked at Harry who felt his heart soar at the joy he saw on his child's face. "Wuv Wiwy," he said around his thumb.

"Me too, Al," Harry promised as he ran a hand through Al's messy black hair. "I love you too," he told his son so proud of him for sharing his bear. He'd said it to James, and Al needed to hear it too. "You're a good big brother."

Al smiled at him again, but more shyly. Then he carefully climbed over and kissed Lily's cheek.

Molly, who had just walked back in the room with Martha, burst into tears. Al looked over at his Gran confused but she scooped him up and hugged him tight. "You are the sweetest boy, Albus!"

A moment later Al reached out for Harry and he took his son back down to his bed.

When he got back it was to find Ginny burping Lily. Harry carefully took her and started to pat her back gently as he swayed. After the weight of the boys, Lily felt so tiny in his arms.

He looked at Ginny and she smiled sleepily at him, love, joy and happiness shining from her.

This was more than enough.

Ten-year-old Teddy stood staring at the clock, willing it to be eight o'clock. He stomped around his kitchen impatiently, huffing out a breath.

"Calm down, Teddy," his Grandma said from the table, sipping her tea. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous," Teddy lied running a hand through his hair, which was dirty blond today. "I just want to go!"

"They might still be asleep," Grandma reminded him, smiling at him over her paper. "Having a baby in the middle of the night is exhausting."

Teddy shook his head. "James is up at six every morning."

Smiling knowingly, his grandmother stood and walked over to where he was. He was now almost as tall as her. He'd shot up a lot in the last year. She put her hands on his cheeks. "It will be fine."

"I know," Teddy said embarrassed. "I just want to meet her."

"All right," she said, kissing his cheek. "You go then. Give the baby a kiss from me."

Excited, he nodded and ran for the Floo powder. "I will! Bye!" He took out a pinch, threw it in the fireplace and said, "Ivy Run!"

Seconds later he spun to a stop in the sitting room of his godfather's house. He straightened and then was knocked sideways at the knees by a dark haired blur that yelled, "Teddy!"

Teddy hefted James up for a quick hug. "Hey."

James bounced down out of his arms and ran yelling to the kitchen. "Teddy's here, Daddy!"

Teddy made his way around the toy dragons and the train set and walked into the kitchen to find his godfather making crepes. Harry grinned at him. "I expected you hours ago."

"Grandma made me wait," Teddy explained, trying not to fidget. Something tugged at his pant leg and he looked down to see that Al had toddled over, his thumb in his mouth. Al held up his arms and Teddy picked him up. "Hi, Al." Al put his head on his shoulder and Teddy pulled out a chair and sat with him in his lap.

James sat next to him, practically bouncing out of his seat. "Da baby came out of Mummy's belly."

"I know," Teddy said grinning.

James wrinkled his nose. "She smells."

Teddy saw Harry roll his eyes and he laughed. "You smelled worse."

"Yeah?" James asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah," Teddy assured him seriously. "Your nappies made me gag."

James giggled and dived for the plate of crepes as soon as Harry set them on the table. "One at a time James," Harry told him firmly and huffing, James just grabbed one.

Harry took Al and strapped him into his high chair before giving him a crepe. "Are you hungry?" he asked Teddy.

Teddy just shook his head. His stomach was in knots.

"Go on up," Harry told him, nodding towards the stairs. "Ginny's awake."

Teddy stood awkwardly and Harry came over, seeming to sense his hesitation. He hugged him hard, holding him in close. Harry was still a head taller than him and his arms always felt absolutely strong and secure like he was being enveloped by him. Ruffling his hair, Harry prodded him to the stairs. "Go on, Ginny wants to see you."

Teddy walked slowly up the stairs, remembering vividly when James had been born. When he'd first heard that Ginny was having him, he'd been scared that things were going to change for him. He had his Grandma and she was great, but since before he could remember Harry and Ginny had been the closest thing to a mum and dad that he'd ever have. They told him stories about his real parents, and he looked at pictures of them all the time, but it wasn't the same. They weren't here to hug him or listen to him or play with him. They didn't get to say that they loved him and that they were proud of him.

Teddy was proud of them, though. He knew that they died for a really good cause and it hurt to know that he'd never get to know them, but Harry had told him about himself and how he didn't have his parents either when he was growing up. That had helped.

He walked past a picture on the wall that was taken the Christmas before. Teddy was sitting by the tree holding Al in his lap while James ran in circles around the frame. He stopped at the door to Harry and Ginny's room, hesitating.

Nothing had changed for him when James was born. Harry and Ginny had still loved him the same, and treated him the same. He didn't know why this time he was so nervous. He knocked and heard Ginny say, "Come in."

Teddy pushed open the door and looked at her brilliant smile, the one she always had for him, and felt the fist around his gut unclench. She held out her free hand and he rushed over, into her arms. He breathed in her flowery smell that always meant he was safe and loved and he hugged her, trying not to knock into the baby who was sleeping there.

"Come here," Ginny said, patting the spot next to her on the bed.

Teddy went around the bed and crawled over next to her. He looked down at Lily and was amazed at how tiny she was. "Can I hold her?"

"You bet," Ginny said and she helped him cradle the baby. "You're late this morning."

"Grandma," Teddy said, and knew she'd understand because that's just how Ginny was. He looked back down at Lily's cute face. "She's so little and her hair is red."

"Yeah, it looks like Harry got his wish," Ginny agreed touching the baby's soft downy head. "She was a few weeks early."

Teddy nodded and lifted her up to kiss her baby soft skin. "That's from Grandma Andromeda."

"So how does it feel to be a god-brother again?" Ginny asked, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "I hear little sisters are just dreadful."

Teddy laughed, knowing that's exactly what her brothers said about her all the time, especially when they were playing games. "I think she's brilliant."

Harry walked in, a fine mist of flour clung to his blue t-shirt. "They're eating like pigs, oinks included, but thankfully your mum just got back so she'll keep them in line." He came over and sat on the other side of Teddy. He wrapped his arm around his godson's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "So should we keep her?"

"Yep," Teddy told him, soaking in the warmth of two the people who loved him most in this world besides his grandma.

"I'm thinking so, too," Harry said. "You want to spend the night tonight?"

Teddy nodded. Lily stretched in his arms and let out a loud, long, wet fart without even waking up. They all laughed. "James definitely smelled worse," Teddy said.

"Too right he did," Harry said, picking up the baby to go change her nappy.

Ginny pulled Teddy in close until his head was on her shoulder and he relaxed into her arms. It was something he'd been doing for as long as he could remember, except now he was taller than her. He didn't want things to change just because he was getting bigger.

"You're an amazing kid, you know that, right?" Ginny whispered into his ear.

Teddy shrugged, feeling his cheeks flush. "I guess."

"You are," she told him, firmly staring into his eyes in a way that always made him feel like she understood him. "I love you and I'm so glad I have you in my life."

"I love you, too," he whispered back feeling his insides squirm with joy. He held on, enjoying this moment with her. Nothing had changed. All was well.

A/N: My original story is up on amazon! Find the link in my author's profile.


	4. Chapter 1

August 31st, 2017

Harry stared blankly down at the note.

'I know your secret.'

He sighed heavily and looked around his office at Auror Headquarters. The door was closed, and the bustle of the busy office around him was hushed. He glanced at the picture of his kids, including Teddy, which graced his desk. Yet another picture showed himself and Ginny, his hair starting to gray ever so slightly, and lines deepening around his eyes. Ginny looked as beautiful as she ever had, her figure trim, and her hair in a short, red bob that was just long enough for her to tie up in a short tail. They were snogging in the picture. They were usually snogging. It incited James to fake gagging and retching noises every time he saw it, but it made Harry smile. He'd been married for nineteen years, and the fact that he still loved kissing his wife was cause for celebration in his book.

He glanced back down at the note. Harry did have a secret, but it wasn't the one the note spoke of.

It was the note itself. Only Ginny knew that he still received them regularly.

He rose slowly, feeling the weight of the parchment that had arrived, like all the others, through the Muggle post. He pulled open a file cabinet, and sorted through until he found the right folder. He dropped the note in, along with the nineteen others he had accumulated. He hadn't told anyone of the second note's arrival, or any of the subsequent ones. He'd quietly investigated them by himself, and that hadn't moved the search at all. He'd investigate this one as well, but not yet.

Harry had no leads on the note. He'd thought, at first, that it had come from the woman that had turned his life so completely upside down, but she'd died a long time ago and still the notes came every summer. They didn't always arrive in the same month, but they came nonetheless.

He sighed wearily and grabbed his cloak. It was nearly five o'clock and both James and Al would be heading to Hogwarts that next morning. It was Al's first year, which was enough to leave Harry queasy and a little off balance. He wasn't sure how his small, shy child had managed to turn eleven.

He shook off the wool-gathering. If he didn't get home shortly to help harass James into packing his trunk, Ginny would have his head.

A knock sounded at his door.

"Enter," Harry called and hoped that it wasn't something urgent that would tie him up.

Teddy poked his head through the door. "I was wondering if you'd left yet," he said as he sidled into the room. "I got a note from Ginny saying I was coming for dinner, and to make sure you left promptly at five."

"She doesn't trust me," Harry grinned as he fastened his cloak. "Weren't you eating with Victoire tonight?"

"Apparently, they're shopping," Teddy informed him, holding out his hands helplessly. "She told me yesterday that her mum is taking her out or something. I'm going to see her off tomorrow, though."

"Ah," Harry nodded. He wasn't entirely sure what that was about, but knew better than to dwell on the things his sisters-in-law did. Only Hermione ever made sense to him, and that wasn't often. "Well, let's get on them before we both get murdered. How was Auror training today?"

Teddy shrugged as they walked out to the lifts. "Really interesting," he said as he explained what he'd learned that day.

They arrived through his Floo to find Ginny sitting at the table drinking a glass of wine, with a sour expression on her face. Lily, Hugo, Rose and Al were all playing a game of Exploding Snap in front of the fireplace, and none gave the two newcomers more than a cursory 'hello' before turning resolutely back to the game. The atmosphere in the room was so thick that they couldn't have cut it with Gryffindor's Sword.

Harry exchanged a glance with Teddy, who promptly sat down with the little kids so Harry could go sort out his wife.

Ginny glanced up at him and took a long sip from her glass. "He's all yours. I'm done for today."

Harry looked up the stairs. "Is he in his room?"

"He was," Ginny said dismissively.

Harry heard a noise and turned to see Hermione's head in the fireplace. "I'm home kids, you can come through. Thanks, Ginny!"

"Sure," Ginny called out, not moving from her spot.

"Bye Aunt Ginny, bye Uncle Harry!" Rose and Huge called out together as they left. Ginny had watched first Rose, then Hugo all their lives. Her job as a sports writer let her work from home much of the time, and when she couldn't Molly Weasley or Fleur would step in.

As of the next day she would only have Lily and Hugo, and them for only two more years. Time was flying. Harry sighed heavily. "What did he do this time?"

"If it was just one thing," Ginny growled, pointing at him with the wine glass, "would I be drinking a glass of wine?"

The short answer was no. Ginny had unbelievable reserves for James' antics, which often brought a tear of joy and pride to his Uncle George's eye.

That exact trait had been a major focus of Ginny's years of therapy, in fact. They had lost their first child, Hope, through a late miscarriage. Ginny had been poisoned and Hope hadn't survived. She'd blamed herself for their daughter's death, but it was only when she was pregnant with Al did they realize just how deeply the pain was entrenched. Ginny had started therapy shortly after, and her therapist had told her point blank that she needed to get tougher on James, and that letting him get away with things wasn't serving him, and wouldn't make up for Hope's loss. Harry had heard the same speech during his own therapy sessions.

Ginny had turned around completely, and while she wasn't exactly like her own mum, she did now rule the house with more an iron backbone. However, James' character was already well cemented by that time. Almost nothing James pulled, and he did pull a lot of hair raising stunts, ever really rattled her. When she was really stressed she'd go out to their back yard and sit by their daughter's grave. She'd come back in, and tell him that it didn't matter what he did because he was alive. It was hard to fight with that.

"He turned my clothes pink," Al said quietly from beside him.

Harry startled a bit, not having realized his son had wandered over. "Sorry?"

"Everything pink," Al confirmed gloomily. "Mum couldn't get my pants to turn back."

-"Then," nine-year old Lily jumped in as she hopped on one foot across the kitchen tiles, "he relabeled all of Mum's spices and potion ingredients."

"That was to distract me long enough to get the Marauder's Map and your Invisibility Cloak," Ginny scoffed. "Like I'm stupid and was born yesterday. If he's not clever enough to sneak them out without me knowing, then he doesn't deserve them."

Al shifted from one leg to the other, "Then he-"

Harry held up his hand. "I get the picture."

They'd never been a household where Ginny had said to the children, 'wait till your father gets home'. She'd told him that just wasn't her style and she'd rather deal with it herself. They were a team, partners, and in a partnership if one of them had been driven to drink by the children, the other was honor bound to step in. Harry bent and left a lingering kiss on his bride's lips, tasting the wine and her frustration mingled together. "Okay, you're off the clock. Go take a bubble bath."

"Dinner," Ginny sighed. "I couldn't make anything because I had to reorganize the kitchen."

"Take away," Harry countered. He turned to his godson, who was smiling sympathetically. "Why don't you, Al and Lily walk down to the village and come back with something?"

"Sure," Teddy agreed easily. It wasn't the first time he'd taken the kids down to the large village. Even for nineteen he was eminently responsible, and Harry trusted his kids with him. He was their unofficial, but recognized, big brother.

Harry went for the drawer and fished out some Muggle money, which he handed over to Teddy. Then he retrieved the Portkey Galleons that Hermione had made so many years ago for him, and handed one each to Al and Lily. They rolled their eyes, but stuck them in their pockets.

If someone snatched them, all they had to do was touch the gold coin and say, 'home' and they'd be whisked away to the safety of their house. It had saved Ginny's life once, and when the children were out of his sight, except for at school, they always had one on them.

"Come on, squirts," Teddy called out jovially, heading for the door.

Lily ran to him and took his hand. "I want ice cream, too."

"You're not supposed to say that until after we've left the house," Teddy teased. "They can still hear us, you know."

"Pshhh," Lily blew out as she waved that off dismissively. "Mummy isn't stupid, remember? She knows I'm going to talk you into ice cream."

Al grinned back at his bemused parents, and closed the door behind them.

Harry pulled Ginny to her feet and held her close. They swayed a little on the spot and he ran his hand up and down her back, enjoying the feel of her curves pressed against him. "I'm sorry your day was so lousy."

"It wasn't all bad," she muttered in to his chest. "Al is all packed, minus his pants. I called in the expert and she's trying to get them changed back. If Mum can't get them fixed, then I'm going to beg Hermione to have a look."

"If that doesn't work," he said firmly, "Al gets James' pants. They will switch." The two were very close in size, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

She nodded, "That was exactly what I was thinking. It's also what I told him, which is why he's sulking in his room."

"Let's just leave him there," Harry said suddenly. "I think I want a bath, too."

Ginny cocked her head to the side and stared up at him. "You have to be kidding."

"Nope," he assured her. "Locking and Silencing Charms were invented for just such an occasion."

"You pick the worst times to-"

Harry kissed her deeply, trying to drag her in to the bliss of a nearly empty house. He ran his hands down her back, over her very nice butt, and hoisted her up by her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and held on to his neck. "I'll beg if you want," he grinned against her mouth.

She laughed. "I wouldn't want that."

Harry turned and started for the stairs, his wife still firmly wrapped in his arms.

~*~

September 1st, 2017

"What are you doing?"

Teddy broke away from the kiss and glared down at James. "Go away."

"I will if you tell me what you're doing," James said with a sly grin.

"If I have to tell you, then you're in big trouble, kid. I'm here to see her off, now scram." Teddy growled as Victoire buried her face in his shoulder. He ran a hand up into her long, soft locks and watched his god-brother run off down the platform, his messy black hair flying up as he ran. "Don't worry about it," he said to her, looking into her beautiful blue eyes.

"I know," she said, her cheeks stained with a charming blush. "It's just that little twerp is never going to let me forget it."

Teddy grinned and rested his forehead against hers, cradling her smaller hand in his against his heart. "He'll grow out of it soon."

Victoire raised an eyebrow. "You're sure about that, are you?"

"Well, no," Teddy replied honestly. "But he's twelve, so who cares? The adults all know and the littler kids were going to find out eventually."

Victoire stood on her tip toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her off her feet a bit with another kiss. "I'm going to miss you," she said against his lips.

"I'm going to miss you, too," he promised, feeling the ache in his gut and wishing they could put off this parting.

"Hogsmeade weekend?" she asked, not for the first time, but he didn't mind reassuring her.

"Definitely," he promised. "Write to me when you get there."

"I will," Victoire whispered and he lost himself in the feel of her lips one last time.

~*~

"Hang on, Nat, I'll put it up for you," her dad said and she struggled in vain to get the trunk up onto the scarlet train as the steam from the engine swirled around them, dancing in between the moving families.

Natalie shook her strawberry blonde hair out of her face, ready to tell him she had it when she tripped on the step, slammed her hip hard and slid painfully back onto the platform. "Owww." She groaned and knew she was going to have a massive bruise on her hip.

Her dad sighed and hauled her up. Unfortunately, they were used to this. "Are you all right?" he asked. Nat nodded, although she wasn't entirely certain. "You wait here and I'll put the trunk up for you."

Nat nodded and waited. She saw families all around and wished like crazy that her mother could have been there. Unfortunately, when your mother is Julienne Parker a top reporter for Britain's most respected news station, she had to travel quite a lot. Her dad was there, though, which was a blessing. They'd had to juggle to make sure that one of her parents would be there to get to Diagon Alley the day before and to see her onto the train today, but they'd managed. Her dad, Curtis Parker, her handsome, tall and amazingly brilliant father hopped off the train and pulled her into a hug. "I'm going to miss you so much, Peanut," he assured her, bending down to kiss the top of her strawberry blonde head. "Who am I going to show my findings to, hm?"

"Hopefully, Mum," Nat grinned and her dad laughed. Her father was a forensic anthropologist, one of the best, and Nat had spent her childhood traveling with him, being homeschooled and seeing the world. There used to be a TV show in America about a forensic anthropologist who fought crime, but that wasn't what her father did. Mostly he worked in the background making identifications of old skeletons and often testifying in courts all over the world. Her mother covered the biggest stories around the globe and then spent the down time with them, wherever she and her dad happened to be. It had been a crazy life, but nothing thus far had compared to the wiry man in an eye-watering neon orange suit showing up to give her a letter and explain that she was a witch. It wasn't the witch part that was odd, though. It was definitely the orange suit.

The whistle blew and Nat jumped. "Dad, I've- I'm-"

"I know," he told her. "I love you."

"I love you, too!" Nat said, and she scrambled up onto the train. She'd have fallen again if he hadn't been prepared to catch her. She stood and watched him waving, a lone tear sliding down her cheek. She swiped at it. She'd seen other parents waving, other students also sad. She'd be all right, though. Nat knew how to go new places and meet new people.

Nat turned to her trunk and groaned, amending her thoughts. She might be all right if she could get her trunk moved without killing herself in the process. Grumbling, she grabbed the handle and started to slowly drag the trunk down the aisle of the train, her bruised hip causing her excruciating pain with every step. Natalie's normally chipper mood and good sense of humor were failing her, probably, she reasoned, because she'd just said goodbye to her dad and hadn't seen her mum in nearly two weeks.

"Hey, do you need some help?" a hesitant voiced asked.

She fell onto her bum, right onto her bruise, and nearly blacked out from the pain as stars danced before her eyes. She shook her head, trying to clear it, and looked up to see a boy with messy black hair and piercingly green eyes staring down at her. Right behind her was a girl with curly red hair and a decidedly kind face. The boy was dressed in jeans, but the girl was already in the black school robes. "I really could use the help. I'm dead klutzy and I hurt myself getting on the train."

The boy held out a hand and helped her to her feet. "We're just in here. You can sit with us if you want-" then he did a double take. "You're short!"

Nat laughed. He wasn't being mean. Some people were, but she could tell he was just surprised. "Yep. My mum is tall, my dad is tall… we're not sure what happened to me, but I've always been at least two inches shorter than anyone else my age."

This boy was a good six or more inches taller than her, though. "I'm Al, this is my cousin, Rose."

"I'm Nat, err, Natalie, but I go by Nat. It's nice to meet you both."

Rose grinned at her. "We're just in here," she said, pointing into the compartment she'd just passed. "Go on in and Al and I will sort out your trunk."

"Oh, I couldn't let you-"

"It's all right," Al assured her. "Anyway, you look like you can barely walk."

Rose helped her into a seat and she sank into it gratefully. The two hauled her trunk in, but before they could get it lifted up a burly boy, about fifteen and with medium dark skin and black hair poked his head in. "You lot alright?"

"Can you put this up for us, Fred?" Rose asked.

"Sure can," he said affably and single handedly stuck the trunk up top. "Anything else? Aunt Hermione ordered me to check on you at least once." He winked at them and Nat saw Rose roll her eyes.

She looked between them and saw the facial resemblance between Rose and Fred even though their coloring was so different. Part of having a father who studied people meant that she was good at picking up on those things. "Are you related?" she asked.

"Cousins," they all said together. "Our grandparents had seven kids." Rose explained.

"Oh," she said. "I'm an only child." The train hit a bump and Nat caught her breath as the pain shot down her leg.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Al asked, his face showing his concern.

Nat shrugged. "I get bumps and bruises all the time. I've broken a ton of bones. I keep falling into the pits my dad works in. It's all right; I'm used to the casts."

"Why don't your parents just heal it for you?" Rose asked and then gasped at Nat's blank look. "Oh! You're Muggleborn, aren't you?"

Nat grinned and sat back. "No idea, maybe?"

"It means your parents aren't magical," Fred explained. He pointed to Rose. "Her mum is Muggleborn."

Al looked to Fred. "Do you know where Victoire went? Maybe she can heal it for Nat."

"Probably down in the Prefect carriage giving out instructions," Fred said. "Thankfully I escaped this year." He pretended to shudder and Rose giggled. "Only prats," Fred told Nat, "become Prefects. Unfortunately, our cousin Victoire is Head Girl this year. It's going to make getting into trouble more difficult."

Al grinned. "You'll manage."

"Too right I will." Fred looked out of the compartment door. "Oi, Molly!"

"Another cousin," Rose told her.

Nat laughed. "How many do you have?"

"All told there are twelve of us, well, thirteen really," she amended. "Teddy isn't technically our cousin, but he might as well be."

A girl with chestnut brown hair and eyes to match popped her head in. She was already in her uniform and Nat noticed a blue and bronze patch with what looked like an eagle stitched on. Next to it was a silver letter P. "I'm going to be late Fred. What's up?"

"Can you ask Victoire to come have a look at her?" he pointed to Nat. "She hurt herself and Merlin knows Victoire's great at healing spells."

Molly's face turned instantly to concern and she looked at Natalie. "Are you okay? Should I send her down now?"

Nat shook her head. "I'll be all right."

Molly nodded. "I'll tell her, then. I expect she'll come down right after the meeting so maybe an hour."

She left and with a wave Fred followed her out.

~*~

Ginny put her arm around Harry's waist, and held on. She knew he was going to brood all day over Al's leaving. Al's quiet, careful countenance, which was so unlike any of them, had always given him a soft spot in her husband's heart. He squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

Hermione dabbed at her nose. "My baby just left."

"You've still got me," Hugo reminded her with a grin. He was a few months older than Lily, but they would still be going to Hogwarts together.

Hermione gave a watery chuckled and pulled her son in for a hug. "You're right."

Hugo pretended to grimace, but Ginny could tell he liked it.

It was hard losing your siblings to school, but at least Lily and Hugo, who were the last two to go, would still have each other during the wait. Ginny had been all alone, and it had been awful.

"Why don't we skip school work today," Ginny said suddenly. Hermione eyed her warily, but didn't comment.

Ginny was in charge of their schooling and after Rose's first year with her, she'd backed off on trying to control it. It hadn't been easy, but Hermione had accepted that Ginny knew how to school the children better than she did. After all, Hermione hadn't ever been schooled at home.

Lily and Hugo cheered. "Can we go to Diagon Alley, Mum?" Lily pleaded.

"I think that sounds fun," Ginny said easily. She looked to Ron. "Do you want to Apparate over, or drive with us?"

"I'll Apparate," Ron shuddered. "I do not like it when you drive."

She rolled her eyes, but didn't otherwise comment. Ron couldn't drive without magic, and she could. Ginny fished the keys from Harry's pocket and stood on tiptoes to kiss him. "I'll see you later, Luv."

Lily threw herself at Harry, who swung her up into his arms. She planted a noisy kiss on his cheek. "I love you, Daddy. Catch some bad guys for me, okay?"

"I'll try," Harry assured her, hugging her in close. "Bye, sweetheart."

Hermione gave her son a hug, bid him to behave, and she and Harry wandered out to her car, which Hermione would drive to the Ministry, before taking it home later that day. Harry always said he liked Hermione's driving. She never broke any of the speeding laws, and it was entertaining to watch her get flustered at those who did. Muggles constantly made rude hand gestures at her for driving like an old biddy.

Ginny took the children's hands and led them out of the station. It was very odd only having two of them.

~*~

"All right," Nat said, getting down to business as Al and Rose sat across from her in the train's compartment as they sped away from London. She heard a hoot and looked up to see two owls. "Why are there owls up there?"

"For sending letters," Rose explained. "Owls are dead useful."

There was so much she didn't know, but thankfully these two seemed very friendly and her mother wasn't a top journalist for nothing. Nat had learned a few tricks through the years. "Right… well, I need to know what's going on here. I'm hopelessly lost."

Al shrugged, "There's a lot to know, but you'll figure it out."

"What do you want to know first?" Rose asked.

"Your family," Nat decided. "Go through it for me, will you?"

They looked at each other then back to her. Rose spoke. "There are an awful lot of us."

"I have an excellent memory," Nat told them. "My dad studies people and I like to know where people fit in, so fire away."

"Are you from England? You accent is different," Rose said cocking her head to the side.

Nat grinned sheepishly. "I'm from all over really."

Rose nodded. "All right, well I'll start at the top," Rose said, taking a deep breath. "First is that my Gran and Granddad are Arthur and Molly Weasley. They had Bill who married Fleur and they have Victoire, Dominique and Louis." She paused, studying Nat who was taking it all in. "Do you want to know how old everyone is and what house they're in?"

"House?" Nat probed.

"We'll be Sorted into one of four houses at Hogwarts," Al explained. "Most of our family is in Gryffindor, but we have two cousins in Ravenclaw and one in Hufflepuff. You don't want to be in Slytherin," he said firmly and Nat thought he was referring more to himself than her.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?"

He shrugged. "They're just not the best people, usually."

"Stuck up," Rose added helpfully.

Nat nodded. "All right, ages and houses would be excellent."

"Well, Victoire is seventeen and in Ravenclaw. She's the Head Girl, as you already know. Dominique is fourteen and in Gryffindor, and Louis is twelve and also in Gryffindor. Then there's Uncle Charlie, but he's in Romania and not married. He works with dragons."

Nat's mouth fell open. "Dragons? Really?!"

"Yep," they said.

"I've been to Romania many times and I've never seen a dragon there!"

"You wouldn't have, they're kept away from Muggles. Let's see," Rose said, tapping at her chin. "Then there's Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey and they have Molly, who is fifteen and is the Prefect in Ravenclaw, and Lucy who is twelve and she's the only cousin in Hufflepuff. After that is Uncle George. He had a twin brother, Fred, but Fred died in the Battle of Hogwarts."

Nat frowned, but not at all the details. Those she could keep straight. She had a knack for names. "What battle?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know about that!" Rose exclaimed.

"It's a relief," Al muttered.

His cousin grinned at him. "Shouldn't we tell her that our parents are famous?"

Nat shrugged. "So are mine- at least my mum is famous. It sucks."

A look of understanding passed between the three of them and they all grinned, each knowing it was in relief.

"About the battle…" Rose paused, thinking.

Al picked up the story. "There was this evil git named Voldemort who tried to kill a lot of people, and my dad was the one who killed him. Uncle Fred died in the last battle."

"I'm sorry," Nat said sincerely.

"We didn't know him, this was years before we were born," Rose said. "Uncle George was apparently not the same ever again, although he's still the coolest uncle of them all. Well," she said fairly, "Uncle Charlie is awesome, but we don't get to see him much. So Uncle George married Aunt Angelina and they have Fred who is fifteen and in Gryffindor and Roxy, erm, Roxanne, who is thirteen and also in Gryffindor. Then there's my dad, Ron and my mum Hermione and there's me, I'm eleven and my brother Hugo who is nine."

"My parents and Harry and Ginny Potter," Al told her. "My mum is the youngest Weasley and only girl in the family. I have an older brother, James, who is twelve, but only for another few days. His birthday is September tenth. He's in Gryffindor, and there's me, I'm eleven, and my little sister Lily who is nine."

"That must have been hard for your mum to be the youngest and only girl," Nat said, pondering it.

They both laughed, shaking their heads. "My mum is tough," Al told her. "She was a professional Quidditch player."

"What's Quidditch?"

"It's this sport played on broomsticks," Al started to explain, but Rose cut him off.

"It's hard to explain. I have an excellent book on it, though, with pictures. When we get to Hogwarts I'll dig it out of my trunk and show it to you." Rose beamed, her eyes twinkling. "I want to make my house team, but I'm not sure I will. I'm a fair player, but it depends on the competition. Al's great, though. I'm sure he and James will play. James might even make it this year."

Nat cycled through all the information. "Okay, let's see if I've got this straight then…" and she quickly rattled back through all the names and information she'd been given.

Al and Rose goggled at her. "Blimey, you do have a good memory!" Al spit out.

"Only for people and details like that; I have to study hard in other subjects, but I'm great in history. Now, who's Teddy?" Nat asked.

"Teddy Lupin is my dad's godson. His parents were killed during the war and he's nineteen now. He lives with his grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, but Dad and Mum have had him over a lot." Al smiled happily. "Teddy is excellent. He always keeps James from picking on me and he takes us to do fun things like get ice cream in the village."

The compartment door opened and a truly stunning girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes walked in. Nat was amazed by her. There wasn't a flaw in her face or her bone structure, which almost never happened. She zeroed in on Nat. "I'm Victoire, the Head Girl. Molly said you got hurt."

"Yeah, I fell getting onto the train. It's a nasty bruise." Nat pointed to the spot on her hip. She studied her. Despite the French name, she had only a British accent.

Victoire's beautiful face was pinched with concern. "Well, I can relieve the pain a bit, but if it's bad you're going to need to see the school matron when we get there. I've started studying to become a Healer, but only just."

"That's like a doctor," Rose added at Nat's blank look.

"I will send an owl to the Headmistress to let her know, so hopefully she'll have Madam Pomfrey waiting for you. Here," Victoire bent down next to her and pointed her wand at Nat's leg. She didn't say anything, but a pale blue light streaked into her leg and the pain lessened considerably.

"Wow," Nat breathed out in relief. "That feels so much better."

Victoire was muttering, still waving her wand and shook her head, clearly not liking the results. "You did a lot of damage. You'll need to get seen before the Sorting, just as soon as we get there. I can't believe you're sitting there so calmly. Don't try to do much. I'll send someone along to help you off the train when we get to school. Leave these clothes on, don't change. I don't want you to hurt yourself further."

She turned to Al and Rose. "If you need me, I'll be up front in the Prefects' carriage. Just run to fetch me, all right?"

They nodded. "Thanks, Victoire," Al said and she left.

"She's really nice," Nat said, feeling better than she had in hours.

They were both studying her. "Why didn't you say you were so hurt?" Rose asked her voice wobbling.

Nat shrugged. "I hurt myself all the time. I'm unbelievably gifted at it. I've lost count at this points of how many times I've been to the hospital and when you're in some of the remote places I've lived, that's not always fun."

Shortly after that a squat witch came by with a cart offering sweets. "Want one?" Al asked through a mouthful of chocolate frog.

Nat shook her head. "I can't eat those things. They make me sick. I brought some snacks." Al stood up and retrieved the sack from her trunk for her.

"Rabbit food," Al scoffed at her almonds, carrots, hummus and cheese. "No wonder you're so small."

Rose smacked his arm playfully. "Sweets wouldn't help her get any taller!"

Nat ate a few bites and then put her food back into her bag. She knew she should eat more or she'd start to get dizzy, but the pain was back and it was making her feel sick.

About ten minutes before they arrived at Hogsmeade Station Rose told Al to get changed and Fred showed up to tell Nat that he was going to carry her off the train. Nat groaned. "That's humiliating," she said, and then laughed. "Well, it's always fun to make an entrance, right?"

"That's the spirit," he told her as he gently picked her up. Al and Rose followed behind him. "Blimey, you are little! I don't think I've ever seen a first year as small as you."

Nat winced and had to suck in a breath as he climbed down the train steps. She was afraid she was going to throw up, the pain was so bad. Fred was being gentle, but something was definitely wrong. She'd been hurt enough times in her life to know that something was likely broken. Fred walked over to an older woman in a nurse's uniform, who had a stretcher and was clucking disapprovingly. "Here you are, Madam Pomfrey. This is Nat."

"Natalie Parker," Nat told her as she lay back onto the very soft stretcher.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked before waving the others off.

Nat heard a booming voice calling for first years and she knew she should be with them, but she was afraid to move. "I fell getting onto the train. I get hurt a lot."

"I'll reserve a bed for you," Madam Pomfrey said, and Nat thought she was probably not joking. She was waving her wand and also muttering like Victoire had done. "Oh dear, it looks like Miss Weasley was correct and you've broken your hip socket. I'm glad she sent us that note. I'm going to fix it, and then we'll take you up to the castle on the stretcher. I don't want you to injure yourself again before the swelling has gone down." She waved her wand and Nat felt a momentary zing of pain before the bone mended.

"That's amazing," Nat said, letting out a happy sound. "Does this mean I don't have to wear a cast anymore when I break a bone?"

Madam Pomfrey chuckled and waved her wand, the stretcher moving along with her and Nat on it. "No, no more casts. How many times have you been in a cast?"

"Uhm," Nat tried to think back, "At least twelve, probably more. I've broken both legs twice and my arms several times. Mostly it's been fingers and toes, though, and those don't always get a cast."

Madam Pomfrey glanced sideways at her. "You're not allowed to get on a broom. When Madam Hooch does lessons you're to stay on the ground. Understood?"

Nat sighed and nodded even though she really didn't understand it. She knew that tone, though, and it's the one her mother always used when Nat wanted to climb a tree or ride a bike. "Understood."

They passed by a set of carriages and Nat blinked in surprise. "What are those?" She asked pointing to the skeletal horses that were hitched to the carriages.

Madam Pomfrey looked at her appraisingly. "You can see them?"

Nat turned back, confused. "Why wouldn't I be able to see them?"

The matron shook her head. "They're called Thestrals. You can only see them if you've seen someone die."

"Oh," Nat breathed out, amazed. She'd seen several people die. The Thestrals looked horrible but they seemed docile enough. She wasn't sorry to not be getting in to one of the carriages, though.

A/N: Here comes the main story!

Also, check my profile to find the information for my original story. If you like my writing, I think you'll enjoy it. It comes out Jan 20th, 2015 YAY! I'm actually working on the third book in the series.

Thanks for all of your support and the reviews. Let me know what you think of this chapter, okay? We're settling in for a very long journey, readers. The prologues were important to get us here, but now we start the meat of the story.

Arnel, thank you for all your editing help!


	5. Chapter 2

Evening Sept 1st, 2017

Harry trudged into his house later than he'd meant to. They'd discovered someone attempting to make Inferi, and the resulting paperwork and media hoopla had taken hours to sort through.

The first thing he saw was his daughter's bright smile. She was already in hot pink pajamas, with her long hair plaited down her back. He gratefully sank down next to her on the couch, and she crawled in to his lap, for a hug. He didn't have any idea what he was going to do when she was too big for cuddles. Probably cry.

Lily was so unlike the rest of the family, that he didn't know how to describe her properly. She was smart, funny, caring, and didn't have a single ounce of guile to her. She was secure in her place as the baby of a very large, extended family. She was sweet, and so carefree that just being in her presence was like breathing in fresh, spring air. Nothing bothered her for long. Lily was truly her godmother's replica, except not as batty. Harry missed Luna, but Luna was a free spirit, traveling the world with her husband Rolf.

Harry sometimes wondered if they'd sheltered Lily too much. She didn't really know of the troubles that her parents had gone through to get to where they were in life, but Lily seemed to encourage being sheltered, so he'd never pushed. Neither had anyone else; Lily had been left to love the world like a fairy.

She looked like Ginny. They had the same coloring and build. Lily was tiny, just like her mum, but in personality they couldn't have been more different.

They didn't fight, though. Lily wasn't a fighter. She had guts, and courage, and she'd speak her mind when she felt called to, but she didn't ever go out of her way to upset anyone just for the sake of being mean or making mischief. She saw her mother struggle against James, and she didn't want to add to it.

"I love you, Daddy," Lily told him grinning.

Harry wouldn't ever tell her, because she probably knew anyway, that he appreciated that he was still Daddy, and not Dad. He didn't want to keep her a baby, exactly, but he wasn't ready for her to be a grown up either. "I love you, too, Lily Lu," he said shortening her middle name down from Luna. "Did you and Hugo have a good day?"

"Yep," she nodded. "We went and bugged Uncle George for a bit until he told us to scram. Uncle Ron was working on paperwork, so we didn't see him at the shop. Then we went to pet the kittens at the Magical Menagerie, and Hugo got bit by a lizard, but he was okay. Then we went to The Burrow to have lunch with Gran and Granddad, then we came home and we spent the rest of the afternoon flying."

"A busy day," Harry sighed, enjoying the normalcy that he could give his children. His own life had never been that idyllic. It was a joy knowing it was their reality. Everything he'd worked for had paid off.

Unless the note writer turned out to be a psycho killer, of course. With Harry's luck they might. But after nineteen years of unimpressive threats, he thought it was unlikely that they'd act now. It hadn't intensified, and nothing overt had ever happened.

He tugged gently at Lily's braid. "I think it's probably bedtime."

"Yes," Lily agreed heavily, her big brown eyes peeking up at him through long lashes. "I asked Mummy if I could stay up to say goodnight. I missed you."

"I missed you, too," he assured her as he hugged her close and kissed her one last time. "Off to bed with you, then."

"I want you to come home on time tomorrow," Lily told him as she stood. "Tomorrow is my day, okay?"

Harry grinned despite himself. He and Ginny had worked out a system where by she'd tell him exactly what she wanted, needed, or expected of him, and he did his absolute best to fulfill it. He was rubbish at subtlety, and this had saved them a lot of heart ache and fights.

Lily had picked up on this early on. Rather than sulking, or getting upset, she simply told him what she needed from him. It was a beautiful system.

"I had a bit of a mess today," Harry told her honestly. "If I can get it cleared up tomorrow I will be home early. That's the best I can promise."

"Okay," she smiled broadly and skipped off for the stairs. "Night!"

He let his head flop back against the sofa, and let out a long breath.

"Wrapped," came a voice from his right. He looked over from the living room into the kitchen and saw Ginny holding up her little finger.

Harry shook his head, and chuckled. "Yeah, well, guilty. She's got everyone wrapped around her little finger. How was I supposed to resist?"

She strode over and sat next to him, pulling his hand onto her lap and entwining their fingers. "Something is bothering you."

"Inferi, and the idiots who think they can conjure them, but can't," Harry grumbled.

Her brows knit as she studied his face. "Something else," she prodded. "It takes a lot more than idiotic criminals to pull this line out between your eyes," she said gently, tracing the line with her finger. "Tell me. You'll feel better."

Harry sighed and slid down a bit on the couch so he could lay his head in her lap, and let her fingers sooth him as they played through his hair.

Her fingers worked their way through his tension, rubbing at the stress and worry. He didn't want anything to ruin the tranquility of his home. It was no longer under the Fidelius Charm, but it was still magically protected to the best of the Ministry's ability. Harry didn't want his kids living in a prison, cooped up like Sirius had been. But just sometimes…

Ginny fingers danced over his brow. "What's wrong?"

He pulled his eyes opened and looked up into her beautiful face. The insanity that had always plagued his life had slowed considerably. In fact, for a few years, it was Ginny's career with the Harpies that had made the press go nuts, rather than anything he'd done. Whatever the note was, it wasn't a threat at that moment. No one had gone after him for being 'Harry Potter' in a long time. Instead it was his title as Head Auror that had made him a target.

The world was peaceful, and he didn't want to ruin that by telling her. But Harry wouldn't lie to her, so there was no choice to it. "I got another note."

"Oh," Ginny nodded. She didn't need any other information. She knew what that meant. "Are you going to investigate it?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I'll try, but I doubt it will go anywhere." He'd refused to waste any more Ministry resources on the anonymous notes, especially when there was no imminent threat. He'd put their house under Fidelius Charm several times because of the notes. But he'd given up after the fourth one.

"Are you hungry?" Ginny asked.

He shook his head. "Hermione had food sent to my office when she realized we were both going to be there late."

She laughed and her chuckle was low and throaty. "Poor Ron looked harassed when he came for Hugo. I took pity on him, and fed them supper."

"You took pity on Ron?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Ginny waved that off. "Hugo."

~*~

They arrived at the huge castle and Nat stared up at the lit windows and all the turrets, wanting to pinch herself. She couldn't believe she was going to get to live here for seven years! They entered through a huge set of double oak doors and Nat was deposited in an anti-room.

"You'll wait here," Madam Pomfrey said. "The others will be in shortly."

She left and a few minutes later a professor with a round face and kind eyes came in with all the other first years to wait for the Sorting. She'd been allowed to get up and Al gave her his arm, helping her to stand. "It's all right," she assured him. "I'm just a bit sore. Madam Pomfrey said it's because I waited so many hours to get healed."

Al continued to hold onto her as they walked into the Great Hall. Nat was thankful for his arm as she was a bit wobbly, although the room was amazing. It was huge with four long tables and the celling was beautiful, matching the night's sky that she'd watched on her long ride up to the castle. The same man who had brought in the first years and had escorted them into the hall put an old, singed and battered pointed wizard's hat on a stool up at the front of the hall and the hat began to sing, explaining all about the four houses. Nat couldn't really concentrate, though. She was hungry and nervous and even though Al was helping to hold her up she thought she'd rather go lie down. The room was beginning to spin.

Al looked down at her and secured his arm around her more firmly. "You okay?" he asked.

A blond boy with a pinched face was on her other side. He glanced over at them when Al spoke and instantly moved to help prop her up on the other side. "You don't look so good."

Rose saw what was happened and said, "I'll go tell Neville, er, Professor Longbottom." She pushed her way up to the front and before the professor could start reading names she hurried up to him. Nat could tell Rose knew the man and knew him well even without her having slipped by having said his first name.

He bent down to her and after a few seconds he glanced back to Nat. He motioned to Madam Pomfrey as he walked over, the hat in his hand. "Here," he said, gently guiding her down onto the end of one of the benches. His face was round and his eyes were very kind. "You're Natalie Parker?"

"Yes," she said and he plunked the hat onto her head.

It went straight down to her chin. "You're going first and then you're going up to the hospital wing."

She vaguely heard Professor Longbottom and Madam Pomfrey talking and she said, "I just need to eat. Low blood sugar…" before the hat spoke into her head.

"You're not difficult to place at all," the hat said into her head. "Very smart and very kind, but above all you're got a lot of courage, especially with the life you've led." Then it shouted out loud, "GRYFFINDOR!" and she heard a bunch of people break into applause.

When the hat was pulled off her head so she saw a plate of sandwiches floating before her and she gratefully grabbed one and started to eat. "Thanks," she said, trying to moderate her rate of eating. "I can't go very long without eating, and my hip was hurting so badly on the train that I couldn't each much."

Madam Pomfrey helped guide her over to what Nat assumed was the Gryffindor table and Nat smiled at Fred whom she sat next to. "I'll be all right, now," she assured the nurse.

"We'll look after her," Fred told her and Madam Pomfrey went back up to the head table while the Sorting continued.

She looked down the table and blinked in surprise. "Fred…" she whispered quietly.

He turned his brown eyes back to her. "What's up?"

"Is that a ghost?"

Fred looked down the table and then laughed. "Yeah, that's Nearly Headless Nick. He's the ghost of Gryffindor tower. He's a good sport."

Nat could only nod faintly and she was shortly joined by several more first years at their house table including the blond boy, Scorpius Malfoy, who had helped Al keep her on her feet. When the hat had shouted his house name there had been a brief pause, as if everyone had been in shock, before the Gryffindors began to clap.

"Scorpius, right?" Nat asked as he sat down across from her.

He slumped and nodded once. "My dad is going to kill me," he told her quietly.

"Why?" Nat asked.

"I was supposed to be in Slytherin," he grumbled.

She turned as she heard "Potter, Albus," and watched as the hat rested on Al's head for almost a minute before shouting "GRYFFINDOR!"

Al ran over looking happier than she'd seen him all day. He plopped down next to her and nicked one of her sandwiches. "Blimey, I'm glad that's over. Dad was right; I just had to tell the hat that I wanted to be in Gryffindor." He glanced curiously at Scorpius. "I thought you'd be in Slytherin."

"So did I," Scorpius said miserably. "I'm never going to be able to go home!"

Nat held out a sandwich to him. The plate kept refilling itself. "Here, take a few bites and you'll feel better."

He took it and after a big bite said, "Thanks."

Rose was last, but finally she was called up. "Weasley, Rose," and no sooner had the hat landed on her head than it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and she happily came over to sit next to Scorpius, across from Nat and Al. "I'm so glad!" she said.

Nat goggled in amazement as platters of food suddenly appeared before them, with all of her favorite foods and many others that she didn't even recognize. She loaded up her plate.

"So Al," a boy who looked remarkably like him only a little older and with brown eyes said, leaning towards them. "Did the hat want to put you in Slytherin?"

_That must be James_, Nat thought. She could see that Al's brother liked to wind him up and from the pink that was staining Al's cheeks, Nat knew it was working. "Are you James?"

He focused on her, then. "Yep, and you're Natalie- the one who trips a lot."

"That's me," she agreed affably. It took a lot more than one twelve-year-old boy to rattle her. She'd spent large chunks of her life in war zones and around guerilla fighters. Nat pitched her voice so that it would carry down the table. "Is it true that you got a month's worth of detentions last year because you came down to breakfast in just your pink flowered underpants?"

Several people laughed. Fred spit pumpkin juice from his nose and James' mouth fell open. "No! Blimey, where did you hear something like that?"

"A few third years were saying that as they walked by our compartment today," Nat lied smoothly. "Hmm, amazing how these odd rumors start. Well," she amended, lowering her voice again so that only those around her would hear, "if it wasn't a rumor flying about before it certainly will be now."

A red-haired boy next to James elbowed him. "She got you, mate."

"Shut it, Louis," James growled as his face turned beet red.

_Ah, Cousin Louis,_ Nat realized. She could feel Al shaking next to her with suppressed mirth. Rose and Scorpius were openly laughing. James eyed her shrewdly and Nat thought he'd taken her measure. He wasn't likely to try anything around her for a while.

Madam Pomfrey came over to her as they were getting ready to head up to bed and told her that she would let the house-elves know that Nat needed food regularly and that if she needed food at any time she would simply have to call out for food from a house-elf and one would bring her something.

Nat waited until she was walking up with Al, Rose, Scorpius and the other first years up to what their Prefect had called Gryffindor Tower to ask, "What's a house-elf?"

"They're these little creatures who help keep Hogwarts running. They clean and cook and stuff," Al told her.

"I don't know how I'm going to get used to all of this," Nat whispered, but she didn't really care. This was another new adventure in a life that had been full of them, and she was ready for the challenge. It didn't even shock her too much when she saw all the people moving about in the portraits.

~*~

"We have our first letter!" Ginny called through the house as she gently took the scroll off the leg of Al's owl, Nero. She patted the owl and gave him a treat before bidding him to rest for a bit so she could send a letter back. Nero nibbled her finger for a moment before taking off for the perch that they left in the kitchen. Slowly she walked over to the kitchen table and sat.

Lily came scrambling into the room and over to Ginny's side. "Did he mention me?"

"Yep," Ginny promised, pointing to the first line. "He says he misses us already."

"What else!" Lily asked, trying to read over her shoulder. "Mum, please!"

"Hang on," Ginny soothed. She frowned as she kept reading. "Woah, Harry! You need to hear this."

Lily huffed as she sat next to her mother, and stared at her. As soon as Ginny heard Harry's footsteps coming into the kitchen, she began to read.

"Dear Mum, Dad and Lily. We got here safely and I was sorted into Gryffindor, and so was Rose. I miss you already. School is fun, but hard, and it isn't like home, only don't tell James I said that.

Rose and me met a girl on the train named Natalie. She fell and we helped her get her things on, but she broke her leg or something. Victoire had to send ahead so she could be seen by Madam Pomfrey. She's really nice, and she's in Gryffindor too. James started to tease me, but she put him in his place and James hasn't said anything to me since. I think she scares him, which is funny 'cause she's smaller than Lily and dead clumsy."

Ginny paused there, and looked up at Harry, a little flummoxed. "How did a tiny, klutzy first year get the better of James?"

"I have no idea," Harry laughed. "But if so I want to meet her. And learn her ways."

"Daddy," Lily rolled her eyes. "Please, I want to hear the rest of the letter."

"Sorry," Harry smirked at Ginny. "Please continue."

Ginny took a deep breath, and read on. "My housemates are Fabien Smithe, but he goes by Smitty because he hates his name. I told him that was my great uncle's name, though. Then there's Ansel Leathen, Matthew Kingston, and Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius isn't what I thought. He was scared to be put in Gryffindor and he says his dad will disown him. He's really nice, though, and him, me, Rose and Nat have been hanging out together.

"My first day was fine. Classes were hard, but it wasn't too bad. I hated History of Magic, but Nat can memorize stuff really fast, so she's helping. I helped her in Defense, which is my favorite class so far.

"We have flying lessons tomorrow, so I need to get to sleep. I'll write again soon.

"Love, Al."

"Scorpius Malfoy," Harry mouthed. "Oh, Merlin, Draco must be livid."

"Poor kid," Ginny said, frowning down at the letter. "I hate that he's been put in this position."

Harry came over and rested his hands on her shoulders. "If he was put in Gryffindor, he's got the courage to go against his family. His house will help him with that. Remember Sirius did that with my dad."

She patted his hand, and glanced up at him. Ginny read the concern on his face, and wondered if he'd discovered anything about the letter writer. He shook his head almost imperceptibly, like he'd read her mind, and she nodded.

"Can I see the letter, please?" Lily asked, holding out her hand for it. Ginny handed it over, and watcher her daughter's expressive face as she read through it again quickly. When she looked back up, she looked upset. "His family wouldn't really kick him out, would they?"

"No," Harry said firmly. "His dad loves him, Lils, but he's definitely going to have to get over the shock."

She sniffed, and turned her troubled eyes back up to him. "I hope he and Al stay friends. Al will look out for him."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. Al definitely would.

~*~

"Madam Pomfrey told me I was not to get on a broom," Nat told Madam Hooch right before their first broom lesson. "She thinks I'll hurt myself."

"Nonsense," Madam Hooch boomed out. "You'll do fine."

Nat doubted that, but she went to stand next to Al. "Up!" Nat said to her broom as she'd been instructed. It zoomed away from her. She knew that wasn't a good sign since Al's broom had flown straight up into his hand. Could the broom tell that she was a walking disaster? It was a shame, too. Nat rather thought she'd like flying. She went to retrieve it and mounted it as instructed. They went up into the air a bit, and came back down. That was fine. They did that several more times, but the third time something odd happened. Nat was sitting on the broom, but before it could rise more than three feet off the ground, it suddenly turned over and dumped her onto her head. "Ouch!" she groaned as she sat up. Thankfully she wasn't hurt, just annoyed. "That's not nice," she groused, shaking her fist at the broom. It seemed to be mocking her, though, because it flew away to hide behind Madam Hooch.

Al touched down next to her and Madam Hooch looked dumbfounded. "I've never seen a broom do that!" she said, utterly amazed.

"Come on, Nat," Al said, holding out a hand to her. "Climb on with me." He pulled her on in front of him.

"Mr. Potter-"

"I've been flying since I was one and I often take my sister along with me. We'll be okay. I won't go high up." Al sounded confident for the first time since Nat had met him. She relaxed back into him, his one arm around her waist, the other on the broom.

"All right," Madam Hooch said reluctantly. "But not high, Mr. Potter."

"You're even smaller than Lily and she's nine," Al comment and he pulled the broom up in the air.

The feeling was amazing! Nat never wanted to land and she wanted to go faster. "Please, Al?"

"No," he said chuckling. "Madam Hooch will kill me."

Scorpius was fighting hard not to laugh ask they walked back up to the castle. "I have never seen a broom do that."

"The broom can tell I'm a disaster," Nat told him with a giggle. "It knows how clumsy I am and tried to get away for its own safety."

"You truly do have a gift for getting hurt, don't you?" Rose asked.

"I really do," Nat agreed amiably. "I fell in this mass grave once in Russia, right on top of a skeleton. My dad just about had a heart attack. Told me to go sit in the truck and not move."

"Ew," Rose gasped. "What on earth does your dad do?"

"He's a forensic anthropologist," Nat explained as they walked through the doors and to the Great Hall for lunch. "He looks at people's bones to tell how they lived and died."

"Really?" Scorpius asked his pale gray eyes lit with fascination. "How does he do that without magic?"

Nat piled turkey onto her plate and took a bite before trying to explain. She needed to eat before she could think clearly. "Well, the bones tell a lot. For instance, the bones wear out differently depending on what your job was or where you were born. He can tell about how old someone is just by looking at their teeth. I'm pretty good at it, too, but I do better with living people." She pointed to Rose and then down the table to Fred. "For instance, I could see in your bone structure that you and Fred are related and that clearly he's half black and half white." She turned back to Al. "Although your coloring is similar to James, and you share the same cheek bones, your nose and the shape of your face and eyes are different and I can tell that you're going to be built more like Fred, more beefy. James is likely to be taller and on the thin side."

"Wow," Al said, a little stunned.

"That's amazing," Rose agreed and Scorpius nodded.

Nat shrugged, trying not to show what it meant to her. "I have an eye for it… I often helped my dad on missing children cases and using the age progression software on his computer. He still can't turn it on without breaking it. It's… it's not a lot of fun identifying the skeleton of kids, but in a way it's also really rewarding."

This time it was Scorpius who spoke. "Wow. I can't believe you've done that. When did you start?"

"I was about six, I think," Nat said quietly. "My dad and this bloke from Scotland Yard were arguing over whether or not the girl was one or the other. I was playing on the computer in the room with them and I plugged both pictures in and aged them up. It became obvious which girl it was."

The three of them stared at her in silence for several long, tense moments.

"You've had a really interesting life," Al finally said.

"That's a nice way of putting it," Nat said, taking a drink of her pumpkin juice.

~*~

The first few weeks of school were interesting. She went with Al and Rose to have tea with Hagrid, whom she liked very much even though she doubted that he could be totally human. They even dragged a reluctant Scorpius along. Scorpius and Hagrid had stared at each other for several long moments before Scorpius asked him a question about dragons and the tension was broken.

Her classes went well. Not surprisingly History of Magic was her best subject, although it had been a shock to see the ghost that was teaching it. She did all right in her other classes and by October she really felt like she was fitting in. Rose was the best in the year, although Scorpius was no slouch. He and Rose were often in competition to get the best marks and they always had a good laugh about it when one beat the other. She, Al, Rose and Scorpius were friends. Rose had told her why it was such a shock that they were friends with Scorpius, but they all agreed he was a good sport.

Gryffindor house initially held back from Scorpius, unsure as to what he was doing when the Malfoys had so long been in Slytherin. Once or twice some of the older students had made derogatory remarks that Nat hadn't fully understood. The Weasleys, who followed Al and Rose's lead on this one, didn't stand for that and before long everyone knew that if they picked on him they had the entire Weasley clan to answer to. Even James reluctantly backed him up.

The comments from the Slytherins started almost immediately after the Sorting and hit a crescendo around the middle of October.

"Can't believe a Malfoy ended up in Gryffindor," one brown haired boy with big ears sneered. "Your father is going to die of shame."

A blonde girl let out a shrill laugh. "I knew the Malfoy family was going down. None of the respectable families will want to associate with your parents anymore."

Nat didn't understand a lot about the blood politics but she did understand societies and the hierarchies in them among the so-called elite. "Yes, Scorpius," Nat said sweetly. "What a shame you'll have to stop the incessant inbreeding that this lot is clearly suffering from. Won't it be a disgrace to not have to marry your first cousin and have a three-eyed baby?"

Al snorted, Rose laughed and Scorpius shot her an amused look. "I dunno. I always fancied a three-eyed baby."

"You stupid mu-" but whatever the Slytherin boy was going to say was cut off when Al stepped in front of her. "Say it to me," Al growled fiercely. He wasn't any bigger, but Nat could see by the expression on the other kid's face that size didn't matter in this case.

"You can't tell from looking at a person if they've got inbreeding!" one of the girls said, trying to sound confident but failing.

Nat rolled her eyes at her and lied through her teeth. "Of course I can! It's clear that your family tree isn't branching out enough. It's why your features are so… well… unfortunate."

The girl flushed and would have retaliated if Professor Longbottom hadn't walked by at that moment. "Aren't you all supposed to be in class?"

"Yes, Professor," they all intoned and he watched as they walked off.

Al wasn't going to let it go, though. "You leave Scorpius alone or you answer to me and my family. Is that clear?"

"We're not afraid of you, Potter," the big-eared boy snapped.

Rose shook her head sadly and rolled her eyes. "Stupid and inbred. Not afraid of Harry Potter's son or the Weasleys when there are so many of us, including the Head Girl? Idiots."

They left them standing there and just before they entered Transfiguration, Scorpius stopped them. "Thanks," he said a little sheepishly.

"You'd have done the same for us," Al told him clapping him on the back and Nat knew Al was right. Scorpius may not have known why he was put in Gryffindor, but it was apparent to Nat that he had a lot of guts.

~*~

James made the Quidditch team as one of the Chasers and they all groaned when they heard the news. He strutted around the castle for several days before Nat convinced Fred, who was a Beater on the team, to tell her how to turn James' underpants pink. They stayed that way for an entire week and James, who couldn't prove she'd done it although he suspected her, had stopped shoving it in everyone's face that he was on the team.

Rose showed her how to send letters to her parents using the school owls and soon after her parents both decided that they were each buying an owl so that they could always be in touch with her, even when one of them was in America and the other was in Tanzania. Her dad's reply to her told her that he'd been called back to Britain to help on a case and he'd popped in to Diagon Alley to get the owls. He'd had to explain to the shop owner that he needed owls smart enough not to show up when other Muggles were around, and they'd found two. One was a large barn owl and the other a beautiful eagle owl. The post was always slow because her parents could be anywhere in the world. If her mum was in Ireland then the owls came back fast, but with her dad in Africa it often took the owls weeks. The letters, however, made up for the grueling waits. They were always big fat letters telling her about their lives and gushing about hers.

Nat managed to break her arm only once and land in the hospital wing only twice in the first term. She was certain it was because Al stuck close to her all the time. He was a great bloke and she appreciated it. She'd also figured out that the Hogwarts house-elves were just about the best thing to the place. Any time she felt faint she just called for one and they showed up with food. "It's like pre-diabetes," Nat explained. She only got blank looks. "My blood sugar dropped really fast," she told them. "That's why the doctors think I'm so small and why I eat so much, although no sweets and not too many carbs." Again blank stares. She blew out a frustrated breath. "Okay, you know when you've not eaten for hours and you're really starving and sometimes it's hard to think?" They all nodded. "I get like that all the time, especially when I haven't eaten in two or three hours. I stop being able to think properly and I fall more. Sometimes I start to stutter or shake- especially in my hands."

"Oh," Rose had said and they'd left it alone.

A/N: My book is on sale! Go see my profile for links! I'm so excited, and nervous, and excited and thankful for all of the help and support along the way. GO LOOK! The publishing happening (at this moment it's tomorrow) has kept me insanely busy, plus I'm finishing the third book in the series, then I'll buckle down hard on this story and start knocking it out faster (hopefully!)

But REALLY! Go check out my book! SQUEEE!

Okay, must thank Arnel for all of her help. She's told me that she's loving the story so far, so hopefully you will as well.

Thank you for all the reviews. I'm so bad about replying, but if you have a specific question I will try to answer it. I do read all of them, though. Let me know what you're thinking of the story!

Thanks again everyone and if you read my book, let me know what you think!

~Sarah


	6. Chapter 3

Harry walked slowly through the bowels of the Ministry, neither hurrying, nor strolling. He greeted colleagues and chatted amiably as he made his way through the storage rooms that were located in the level below the Department of Mysteries. It was mainly the archivists who worked down this low.

"Afternoon, Mr. Potter," the head archivist, Maud Blanch whispered.

Harry had never heard her say anything above a whisper. If there was a fire, he was pretty sure no one would know because she didn't seem capable of shouting. For all that, he liked the older woman, in her jumper with a puppy on the front, and her thin wire spectacles that were the exact gray of her hair. She was pleasant, efficient, and above all, more self-sufficient than any of the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. "Evening, Mrs. Blanch," Harry smiled blandly. "I need to visit the Auror's archives."

"Of course," she waved him through.

Harry touched his wand to a metal disk in the wall, a routine he was very familiar with. The disk turned green as new spring grass, and he made his way through. If he'd not been himself, it would have turned red and he'd have been blasted by something that George had invented for the Ministry a decade earlier.

He walked more quickly now, bypassing several long rows of book cases, that were full of books, scrolls and labeled boxes, until he reached the one that contained all of his case notes from when he and Ginny had been poisoned nineteen years earlier. He dragged down the familiar box and hefted it over to a large, wooden table.

Harry stared down at the box as bile rose unbidden into his throat. No one was allowed to look in this box. He'd put a hex on it so that if anyone but himself touched it, the other person would be very sorry. It was the same curse used on the prophecies in the Hall of Prophesy.

Slowly, almost unwillingly, he removed the lid to dive once more into the only official record of his oldest child's short life.

~*~

News came in the first week in December that her parents weren't going to be home. Her mum was covering a UN peace summit and was sequestered with the other journalists in France. Her dad was stuck in South Africa looking at several thousand year old bones and couldn't get back to England. Nat sighed. "I'm staying here for Christmas," she told her friends.

"No you're not," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "You can come home with one of us. I'll send an owl to Mum and let her work that out between her and Aunt Ginny."

"I wish I could invite you over," Scorpius said morosely, "but even I don't want to go home. My dad was livid when he heard I'd been Sorted into Gryffindor. He still hasn't written to me. Mum says he'll get over it, but I know Christmas is going to be awful."

"Want to come to my house?" Al asked, looking concerned.

Scorpius shook his head. "That would be worse, trust me. My dad may not hate yours, but they're not exactly pals. He's not going to be pleased when he figures out we're friends."

Rose eyed him curiously. "Are you going to let that stop you?"

"No," Scorpius assured her quickly. "The old pureblood ideal isn't for me. I've always thought it was rubbish. My grandparents nearly lost everything because of You-Know-Who."

"Voldemort," Al and Rose said together.

Nat had been told the full story months before and laughed. "How about just calling him Tom Riddle, then?"

It was worked out that Nat would stay with Al's family for the holidays. Rose's family was going to be spending a few days with her Muggle grandparents so they weren't going to be home the whole time.

"You'll like my parents," Al told her as they walked off the train. He grabbed her arm and pulled her upright as she nearly fell. He didn't miss a beat and kept talking. "My mum is a great cook and my dad is really funny. Lily is a lot of fun, too."

"I'll see you three later," Scorpius grumbled as he saw his parents. "This holiday isn't going to be a laugh."

"See if you can come over," Al said to him. Scorpius only shrugged, hunching his shoulders as he walked off.

"Come on, you two," James hollered and they waved to Scorpius as he walked away.

James was already standing next to two older people and a small, red headed girl. Nat saw with a shock that Lily, for she couldn't be anyone else, was beautiful. It was not usual for nine-year-olds to already be so attractive, but Nat could tell she would be stunning when she was grown. She turned to study Al's parents and saw that Lily looked nearly identical to her mum, and Al was the spitting image of her dad although his dad's hair was starting to gray a bit. She saw the facial discrepancy that she'd noticed between Al and James. James' face was more along the lines of his mother, but not identical. He probably bore a stronger resembles to a grandparent.

"Hi, Nat," Mrs. Potter said warmly as Mr. Potter took her bag from Al, giving him a hug. Al had refused to let her carry it, stating she needed both hands to keep herself upright. Nat had laughed. It was the truth.

"Thank you for inviting me," Nat grinned, trying not to be nervous. "My parents are really grateful as well."

"It's our pleasure," Mr. Potter assured her as they walked to the car. "Al and Rose have told us all about you."

"We couldn't let you spend Christmas alone," Mrs. Potter assured her with a warm smile.

It wasn't like a normal car, Nat realized quickly. The seats were extremely spacious and all four kids fit well into the backseat. The ride was easy, the four of them bantering back and forth. Nat realized quickly that she was going to love Lily, who was fun and funny and didn't take anything from anyone. They arrived at a house that was down a long, winding tree-lined drive up to a large, ivy covered walls. Nat followed Al inside, looking around at the home. There was a sitting room off to the right and an open kitchen and dining room towards the back of the house.

"You're in with me," Lily told her, and led her up to her bedroom. She had bunk beds with lilac coverings. "I'm on the top," Lily said as Al followed in, putting Nat's bag on the bottom bunk.

"I told her to do that," Al winked at her.

Nat playfully punched his arm as he walked out.

"Come down, you lot," Ginny called. "The family will be here shortly for dinner."

"Everyone?" Nat asked Lily who nodded.

"Yep, the whole family gathers the first evening they all get home for the hols. It's a tradition and we've got the biggest house, so we usually host. It takes a long table to seat us all."

Nat and Lily wandered into the kitchen to find Al's parents locked together and laughing as they kissed each other. They would have beaten a hasty retreat, but James skidded into the kitchen, sliding on his sock covered feet, and called out, "Gross!"

"Don't look," Al's dad said and James rolled his eyes as they continued kissing. They were a lot like Nat's parents, so she didn't mind.

Within thirty minutes the house was full to bursting and Nat was in heaven. She'd never been to a really noisy family get-together. Her parents were only children, all of her grandparents had died before she was born and she didn't have any other living relatives. Everyone laughed, argued, and enjoyed each other and she instantly felt welcomed.

"What do your parents do?" Bill Weasley asked her during dinner. It had given her a start to see him for the first time. His face looked as if it had been mauled by an animal, although Rose had given her the full story weeks before, so she knew it was a werewolf. It looked like it had been very painful, though.

"My dad is a forensic anthropologist," which she went on to quickly explain, "And my mum is a journalist; Curtis and Julienne Parker."

Bill looked impressed. "I've heard of your dad. He's really well respected in the Muggle world, did a lot of work in Egypt while I was there for a short trip a few years back. I didn't get a chance to meet him, but I've always wanted to."

"I wish you'd have had the chance!" Nat exclaimed. "I'd have met you then as well. I've been with my dad pretty much all the time since I was a baby."

"Really?" Gran Molly probed as she dished more food onto Nat's plate. "What about your mother dear?"

Nat groaned as she tasted the truly excellent potatoes. "These are amazing!" she exclaimed after she swallowed. "Erm, well, Mum was around as much as she could be when a big story wasn't breaking. She stayed with Dad and me almost constantly between Cambodia, Australia and South Korea 'til I was about one, and then Dad took over most of my care with the help of a nanny till I was five and my nanny got married. I traveled around with him to various places while he worked. They wanted me to go to a boarding school when I was five, but I refused. So I've been doing homeschooling online."

"Online?" Roxy asked.

"You know," Rose said. "My Granger grandparents have that computer that connects to other computers using the internet— you know, online. I showed it to you last summer when we were there."

"Oh right!" Roxy said, cottoning on.

"But you wanted to go to Hogwarts?" Teddy asked. Nat had been momentarily surprised when she met him. His hair was bright blue, but oddly enough looked natural on him. She noticed that he sat close to Victoire and they smiled at each other a lot.

Nat shrugged. "Can't learn magic online. Besides, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I love being with Dad and traveling around the world, but I don't want to be an anthropologist."

Hermione studied her, in a way that let Nat know that she _knew_ people. "You're an unusual eleven-year-old, Nat. In a good way, of course, but you talk like an adult."

Nat flushed but that wasn't the first time she'd heard it. "Yeah, well… I've had a weird childhood and most of my time was spent with extremely brilliant adults, so I had to learn fast to talk to them and ask good questions or they wouldn't have let me participate and I'd have been bored out of my skull. It's sad to say that the weirdest part of my life hasn't been going to Hogwarts, but I love the castle! I don't have to move all the time and I can make and keep friends. We don't really have a home of any kind, just a tiny flat we keep in London to store a few things and crash in when we're in town."

"How many languages do you speak?" Percy Weasley asked her, pushing his glasses up further on his nose.

Nat bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling, counting. "Erm, thirty or so." Everyone gasped. "I don't speak most of them fluently!" she assured them hastily. "Some of them are dead languages, and several are fairly useless unless you're in a remote part of Africa, but I played with a lot of kids all over the world so I know a lot of slang."

"What about swear words?" George asked and ducked as his wife tried to slap him upside the head.

"George!" Gran Weasley hollered.

Nat smiled sheepishly. "Much to my father's chagrin I can curse fluently in several languages. The workers at digs didn't often censor their tongues, but I don't use them. My dad always says that it's better to think up different words to express what you're feeling." She sighed. "Dad and I rarely stayed in one place longer than three to six months, but I pick up languages quickly."

"She's got an excellent memory," Rose added. "She can go around the room and name all of you."

Nat blushed hard and wanted the conversation off of her. "But I can't fly a broom."

"That's true," Al added laughing. "The broom dumped her off."

"Really?" Harry blurted out. "You mean you fell?"

"No, it was weird, Dad! She was on and it turned her upside down so she'd fall off!"

"The broom knew I was a disaster waiting to happen, so it shook me off before I could get too high," Nat added helpfully while everyone laughed. "I love to fly, though! Al's taken me up a few times."

"She wanted to go a lot faster than the school brooms can go. Dad's the one you should fly with on one of the Firebolts." Al told her. "He can go wicked fast; so can Mum."

The conversation thankfully moved off her and Nat took in everything, deflecting James from tormenting Al and getting into a lively discussion with one-eared George (he insisted she call him that although Ron dryly referred to him as 'the holey one') about the joke shop which George and Ron ran together.

After dinner Nat followed Al to the living room and tripped on a rug, nearly pitching into Al. Al's reflexes were excellent, though, and he caught her before she could hit her head.

"Do you always do that?" Audrey Weasley asked her, walking over to them. She seemed to be sizing Nat up, literally, taking in her tiny stature. She tucked her chestnut hair behind her eat.

"All the time," Nat said, trying to keep her sense of humor over it and not get embarrassed. "At least now that I'm in the Wizarding world I don't have to deal with casts or surgery anymore."

The brunette cocked her head, looking at her through her glasses. "Did you have a lot of ear infections as a child?"

Nat was flummoxed. "Yeah, I had to get tubes when I was six and everything, but I still get them several times a year."

"Hmm, would you mind if I had a look?" Audrey asked and explained, "I'm a Healer which is just like a doctor."

"No, please look," Nat said and she sat in the chair that Audrey pointed to.

She used her wand and muttered some spells. Victoire had come over and she asked a few questions using words that Nat didn't totally understand. "You were in Egypt, you say?" the Healer asked and Nat nodded. "Ever in a tomb?"

"Mhmm," Nat said. "I got lost in one, once. My dad was frantic and it took nearly two days for me to find my way back. They thought I'd been kidnapped. I was only about three and Dad had no idea how I'd gotten away from the nanny, let alone into the tomb. I spent weeks in hospital after that one."

"Bill, come look at this," Audrey called to him. "I'm surprised Poppy missed it."

She pointed her wand into Nat's ear and Bill whistled. "I'll be damned. I haven't seen that curse in years."

"Curse?!" Nat squeaked as everyone else around her said the same.

"It's not really a surprise Poppy missed it," Bill said fairly. "You only get that in Egypt. She's probably never seen a case before."

"Curse?" Nat repeated, trying not to sound as hysterical as she felt.

"It's called Mortuorum Ambulantum. We can fix that," Audrey assured her. "You'll probably always have some scarring, but we can lift the curse and get rid of some of the scarring which should help with your balance."

"Do you have problems with your blood sugar?" Bill asked her. "You're so small, though, it's really obvious what it is."

"She does," Al said, sounding odd. "You can really help her?"

"Of course," Audrey smiled. "Let's do that now, then. No need to put it off when she can barely walk without falling. I need a particular potion for the scars but I can go by Floo over to St. Mungo's and get that while Bill deals with the curse."

Bill grimaced. "Come on, Nat, you're going to want to lie down for this one. It's going to hurt— a lot."

"I'll bring back a pain potion as well," Audrey said and she went over to the fireplace.

Nat barely had time to register that the woman had disappeared into green flames in the fireplace before she was led over to a squashy sofa. Al followed her over and sat down next to her hip on the sofa, taking her hand. Nat saw Ginny and Gran exchange a glance, but she couldn't read what they were silently communicating. Rose hovered around, looking concerned.

"Ready, Nat?" Bill asked.

"Ready," Nat agreed, trying not to be nervous. It didn't matter if it hurt. If she'd stop falling over her feet all the time it would be worth it.

Bill uttered a spell, but it was forgotten in a blinding flash of pain that was so intense that she could hardly breathe. She squeezed Al's hand and bit down on her lip, trying to keep herself from screaming. It felt almost like a headache, but it burned and was razor sharp in its intensity. It seemed to drag on for hours, but finally the pain faded and she found herself shaking and a woman's arms around her, holding her. "It's okay, it's all over," Ginny's voice floated softly into her ears which were ringing a bit. "You're all right now, Nat."

Nat was clammy, the hand in Al's was limp now, and Ginny was stroking her brow just as Nat's mother would have done if she'd been here.

"I've got it," Nat heard Audrey say. "Here, Nat, drink this. It's going to tickle in your ears, but then it will be over with. I'll give you a pain potion and you can get some sleep."

Nat drank. It tasted terrible, but the itching that followed was like nothing she'd ever felt. She wanted to claw the sides of her head off. She heard Audrey telling Ginny that the scarring was really bad and that Nat had been cursed so long ago that she didn't know how much was going to be repaired. Al held one hand away from her head in a strong grip and Nat knew Bill held the other to keep her from scratching while Ginny simply held her. The pain and itching crested and then faded.

Nat was drained in a way that she'd never been before. Something was pressed to her lips and she drank without any real thought. The pain faded to nothing. Then competent, practiced arms were lifting her, carrying her up the stairs, setting her on the bed. She felt a mother's hands, so gentle that she knew they had to belong to one of the mothers, wiping her brow with a warm, wet cloth. Her shoes were removed, the covers lifted up to her chin and Nat fell heavily into sleep.

~*~

As soon as Nat was in her bed, Ginny pulled Harry in to their room and shut the door. She stared at him.

"What?" he asked, unable to resist running his fingers through her loose hair.

"If that were my daughter," she said finally, "I'd want to know what happened. We need to find them and try to get them here."

"Gin," Harry sighed and pulled her in close. "Luv, I know how you feel, but the red tape involved in getting those sorts of permits would take weeks. I can't make that happen."

She sniffed.

Harry groaned softly, and knew he was sunk. Whatever it was about Natalie, she'd pulled a string in Ginny's heart, and now the thought of her going through this without her parents was reducing his unbelievably stoic wife to tears.

"I'm not crying," she protested unconvincingly. She didn't raise her eyes from his shirt, and he was reasonably certain he'd find a wet spot there. "I've got allergies."

"Since when?" he probed. "I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed that."

Ginny slowly curled her fingers in until they were clutching at his shirt. "Harry… that little girl is in a house full of strangers, and she's just gone through a very painful healing. I'm asking you to play your Harry Potter card and get her parents here. Tomorrow, preferably."

When she finally looked up, her eyes were dry, but red. "I don't know that I can," Harry admitted slowly. "It would take a lot of cooperation, and most everyone is on holiday right now."

Her lower lip trembled, even as she bit it and looked away.

Harry swore softly, and pulled her back against him. Every so often something like this would get to her, and she'd be unreasonably upset over something that he couldn't possibly fathom. Except it always had a root, and the root typically lay not far away in their backyard, in the small clearing along with Hope's grave.

"Okay," Harry assured her firmly. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her tenderly. "I'll make this happen. Between myself, Hermione, Percy and your dad we should have enough connections."

"Thank you," she said softly. He could see the gratitude in her eyes, and knew she was glad he hadn't mentioned her tears. It had taken him a lot of years to learn to read his wife, but he had a reasonable grasp on it now.

He nodded and took her hand. "Let's go make this happen."

~*~

Nat woke slowly, and blinked her eyes open to find Audrey Weasley sitting in a chair next to her bed, reading a book. She looked up and smiled kindly at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Odd," Nat admitted honestly.

"I can imagine. We've tracked down your parents to let them know what's happened. Harry and Ron sent word that they're bringing them back with them. Hopefully, they'll be here tonight."

"Really?" Nat said breathlessly, hope filling her. "You're sure?"

She smiled kindly. "Well, we can't be sure they'll make it tonight. Your dad might not get here 'til tomorrow, but they're both thrilled that you've been cured, or mostly anyway. I'd like to have another look at your ears."

"Of course!" Nat said, sitting up slowly. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but she thought she might be hearing better than she had ever before, although she was dizzy.

Once again Audrey performed the same exam on Nat. "Well, it's definitely loads better. Bill and Victoire are going to want to see this if you don't mind. Victoire has been studying with me to become a healer. Still, you're not totally better. As I said you had a lot of scar tissue and some is still there so your balance isn't ever going to be perfect, but you should trip less often."

"Well, that's something," Nat said, thankful for it.

"I'm not sure you'll ever catch up with your height either. You're always going to be small for your age, but you should make some progress that way." Audrey pulled Nat's hand out in front of her and had her hold it in the air. Nat saw it shaking and knew what that meant. "I'm afraid the blood sugar issue is likely to remain and may even get worse if you're not careful about what you eat. As I said, you had the curse for years, longer than most people do. It's actually amazing that one of the curse-breakers didn't hear about it and have you cured shortly after you came out of the tomb. Bill was telling me last night that they'd healed a bunch of Muggles over the years. Here," she handed Nat a glass with juice, which Nat drank down, only spilling a little bit with her shaking hands, then a slice of turkey. "Eat up and then you can head downstairs for a late breakfast."

After breakfast Ginny told Al that he could take Nat up on her Firebolt 2. "Really?" Nat asked, not daring to believe she'd heard right.

"Yes, but Al, you hold tight to her and don't go too fast. Just fast enough," Ginny said winking. "I'd take you up myself, but I'm preparing for your parents to stay with us and I've got an article to finish."

The morning would have dragged on if it hadn't been for flying with Al, James and Lily. Their house was set on sixteen acres and without any chance of being spotted by Muggles they were allowed to fly anywhere within sight of the house.

"Faster, Al!" Nat screamed, throwing her arms up in the air, reveling in the feeling of the cold air stinging her face.

His grip on her waist tightened. "I can't go faster while holding you and the broom. You hold on tight and I'll speed up."

They landed a while later when they heard Al's mum holler. Nat hopped off the broom and threw her arms around Al's waist for a tight hug. "That was amazing."

He hugged her back somewhat awkwardly, but his sheepish smile said he was pleased.

Teddy, still with his blue hair, was sitting at the kitchen table when they piled into the room and Nat did a double take. "What happened to your face?" she asked, sitting across from him and taking a large bite of her sandwich. "Your nose is off slightly and your cheek bones aren't right."

He looked genuinely surprised. "I hardly did anything to change them today. It's supposed to be subtle."

"Your bone structure doesn't match, like you're wearing prosthetics or something. Here," she stood up and leaned over the table, poking at his nose. "Your nose should end right here, lower down and your cheek bones are down here, but your cheeks are puffier than they should be, considering your weight. Did you do magic to change?"

Teddy winked at her as she sat back, screwed up his face and created a pig's snout for a nose. Everyone laughed. "I'm a Metamorphmagus, which means I can change my appearance at will."

"Amazing," Nat said, really impressed. "If you meet my dad, make sure you do that to him. It will drive him nuts till he figures out what the differences are in your face."

Teddy grinned. "I'll do that."

"So what do you do?" Nat asked before taking another bite.

"I'm in Auror training for another year and a half, which is sort of like a policeman," he said, also digging into his lunch. "My mum was an Auror and my godfather is the head of the Auror department, so they just let me in."

"No, they didn't," Ginny said, rolling her eyes and ruffling his hair affectionately. "You worked hard in school to get top marks and you earned your place. We're really proud of you!"

Lily giggled. "Teddy's going to hurt the bad guys and Victoire will get to patch them up again. They're quite a match. Are you going to get married soon?"

Teddy's face went scarlet. "It's a good thing you're cute, Lily-Lu, 'cause that question is getting old."

"When you have a baby can I mind it?" Lily asked him propping her chin on her hand, her face masked in innocence.

"Lily!" Ginny choked out, trying to inject a scolding note into her tone, but failing when she laughed.

Nat could see Lily was having Teddy on, and he apparently knew it as well. "Funny, Lily… really amusing."

They cleared the table and Ginny sent them into the sitting room with Teddy while she tidied up some. Teddy grabbed Lily around the waist and hauled her up into his arms, tickling her. "What's the meaning of teasing me, huh? Just because you're adorable doesn't mean you can get away with everything!"

"Just wait until she's older," Nat commented, grinning at their antics. "Lily is going to be gorgeous."

They all stopped and looked at her. "Really?" James asked, somewhat taken aback.

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I wish I had my dad's computer. I could show you. I tried to learn to draw by hand, but I'm no good."

"I can draw," James told her. "I'm really good at faces."

An impish smirk flitted over Nat's face. "Get some paper and a pencil, then."

Nearly an hour had passed and everyone was still standing behind James, except for Lily who was wiggling in a seat across from them. "Can I see yet?"

Nat said "Not yet," at the same time that James said "No!"

"The eyes still aren't quite right, right here," Nat pointed. "They're still a little too narrow. Yes, like that. Okay, the other one. Excellent."

"What are you kids up to?" Harry Potter asked and they all jumped.

Nat looked up and saw, to her utter delight, her father standing next to Harry. "Dad!" she yelled, and ran to throw herself in her father's arms. It felt truly excellent to have one of his hugs again.

"Hey Peanut," he whispered into her hair, kissing her brow. "I have missed you so much."

"Me, too," she said.

Harry's voice made them both look over at him. He was standing there, looking down at James' drawing that he held in his hand. "What on earth is this?"

"It's what Lily is going to look like when she's eighteen," James told him proudly.

Nat watched Harry's hand that held the drawing start to shake and he sat heavily down on the sofa, staring dumbfounded at the picture. "No, no way. I cannot handle having a daughter that's this beautiful."

Lily went over to see the picture, perching herself in her dad's lap. "Wow, I am beautiful!"

Harry groaned and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back. "This is going to kill me, Lily Luna. We're going to have to lock you up to keep you safe."

"You're not locking me up. Mum won't let you." Lily put her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek, before resting her head on his chest. His arms came around her and he held her tight. "It will be all right, Daddy."

"I'm not so sure about that. Have you seen how old your Uncle Bill is looking lately?"

"Yes, but Victoire is dating Teddy now and Uncle Bill likes Teddy so that's all right," Lily explained patiently.

Harry sighed. "Teddy is still a boy, and boys are not to be trusted."

"Hey!" Teddy griped good-naturedly. "Besides, you're the head of the Auror department, Harry. It's not like just any bloke would ask Lily out."

"Not to mention killing Tom Riddle," Nat added. "I've heard that counts for something."

Harry smiled wryly.

"Can I see the rendering?" her dad asked, holding out his hand for the picture. He kept his other arm around Nat and she was happy to stay snuggled into his side. Her dad studied it carefully and looked back at Lily. "This is an excellent job, Nat, as always. I agree that you've got her nailed. You drew this?" he looked over to James who nodded. "Quite a talent you have, young man." Then she felt her dad stiffen as he looked at Teddy who was wearing a playful grin. "What on earth have you done to your face?"

Everyone, except her dad, laughed while Teddy explained.

~*~

Her mother arrived shortly before dinner with Al's Uncle Ron. Her mother spent several minutes with her before setting to work helping Ginny finish up the dinner preparations. When Nat looked in on them she saw them laughing and talking.

Dinner was fantastic and the conversation flowed easily around them. Her parents knew how to fit in anywhere, but they seemed to have a genuine connection to Al's family even though they were Muggles. After dinner Audrey and Bill came by to talk about what had happened to Nat.

"Bill Weasley," Bill said, holding out a hand to shake her father's.

"Curtis Parker, my wife Julienne," her father said, studying Bill's scarred face. "Animal attack?"

"Curtis!" Her mother gently smacked his arm. "It's rude to ask!"

Bill laughed, "I'd have expected him to ask, Mrs. Parker. Yeah, in a manner of speaking it was an animal."

"Julienne, please," her mother said as they sat down around the sitting room. Nat sat between her parents, something that she didn't get to do often.

"I'm Audrey Weasley, a Healer, which is like a doctor," she explained. "I noticed yesterday how small Nat is for her age, although she doesn't appear to have achondroplasia. Then she said she'd been in Egypt which got me thinking." Audrey smiled kindly at Nat. "Then I watched her trip and noticed just how bad her balance was and I asked to examine her. She told us about getting lost in the tomb when she was three and ending up in hospital for several weeks."

Her mum and dad both let out a groan. "Those were the longest two days of our lives."

"Was she average sized before that?" Audrey asked and her parents nodded. "So the recurrent ear infections began after, as I suspected. Most people who are cursed with Mortuorum Ambulantum are cured reasonably quickly, but Nat's had this curse working in her for eight years, so it's had time to do some damage. The honest truth is that I've never seen a case this advanced and we don't really know what problems it might cause later on. I'm going to do some research, but it will take time. She might be a unique case. What I see in her ears is that there is scar tissue still present, but it is definitely improved. I will, of course, continue to monitor her in the months and years."

"Most Muggles who are cursed end up dying," Bill told them. "The curse attacks the adrenal system, which produces hormones in the body. Another side effect is damage to the ear canal. That leads to balance issues. The victims eventually fall one too many times because of their balance being damaged and fall off a cliff. Because Nat is magical, her magic would have saved her from the worst falls."

Nat reached for her parents' hands and held them, not wanting them to be scared. "I haven't tripped once today, though, and I was able to go over three hours between breakfast and lunch without feeling bad."

"That's excellent," Audrey said, clearly pleased.

Her dad cleared his throat. "So how did you examine her? With your, erm, wand I expect?"

"Yes," Audrey said.

"That's when she noticed the curse," Bill explained, his hands folded between his knees as he leaned forward in his seat. "It's a relatively common curse in the old Egyptian tombs. The ancient wizards would put it on to keep the Muggles out and doing them in before they could loot the tomb. They'd be cursed with recurrent and severe ear infections that would damage their balance and hearing. Left alone to work it rapidly weakens the adrenal system, which is why she's hypoglycemic and so small. It might have left scarring on other systems in her body, but we're not sure. As Audrey said, she's one-of-a-kind. We've removed the curse and fixed a lot of the scar tissue, and Audrey gave her a potion that's helped boost her glands to start working again, but some of the damage is permanent. She's probably never going to be tall and her hypoglycemia is still present. But it's a definite improvement."

Nat heard her mother sniff and she saw, to her horror that her mother was crying. "Mum… don't, I'm okay!" She leaned into her mother and wished she could say more.

"Thank you, all of you, for helping her. I'm so grateful," her mother said.

"Yes, and thank you for coming to get us. Those Portkey things really make traveling a lot faster." Her dad squashed her into a tight hug. "I'm glad we get this time with her."

~*~

After dinner, Nat and Al's parents congregated around the kitchen table drinking tea and talking while James, Lily, Al and Nat sat in the sitting room, playing wizard's chess.

It was Al verses James. Nat and her father had been playing chess for years, but it was nothing like this. It was entertaining to watch the pieces shout instructions and warnings. She'd played a few times with Al. She was good, but she'd noticed that he and James seemed to have an instinct for playing.

"Ohhhhh," Lily whispered excitedly. "Al's got his check mate face on!"

Nat looked and saw the quiet triumph there.

James looked up, noting them and rolled his eyes. "All right, what am I missing, Al?"

Al pointed to the board and Nat saw how in the next move James would be in check mate. Nat wasn't really paying attention to the game, though; instead she studied his face and the expression there. It hadn't come over his face until after Al had James cornered. _Interesting._ "Does he always do that?"

"Yep," Lily told her laughing. "It drives Uncle Ron nuts. He keeps trying to get Al to hold it in, but he never does."

Al shrugged, sitting back. "If there isn't anything that can change it, what's the point?"

"Let's spy on the parents," James said suddenly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He pulled something that looked like flesh colored string from his pocket and crawled over to the side of the couch.

"If Mum catches you, James…" Lily began but then moved over to him, smiling impishly.

Nat looked to Al for an explanation. "They're called Extendable Ears. We'll be able to hear into the kitchen. Mum and Dad don't want us using them."

"Oh… neat!" Nat said, taking the one James offered. She watched them snake towards the kitchen and towards the adults. She followed suit and stuck the end in her ear.

"She's a savant about faces," Nat's dad was saying quietly. "I've never seen another person in all my years that could look at someone and age them up to whatever age I needed or deconstruct the faces and say who the parents could be or what their race would be. She's got a gift with faces. She can do it with skulls too, but she's better with a live face. I only get better results from a DNA test."

"When did she start doing that?" Ginny asked.

There was a long pause and Nat guessed he was probably thinking back on it. She remembered it vividly. "I really started to notice it when she was three or four. She'd be toddling around when I was working with the sketch artists and she'd always take a look at the faces we were doing. There were times when she'd say 'das not wight, Daddy. Da nose isn't long enough.'" He sighed. "I can still remember her saying it, just that way. She was always right."

"That's amazing," Harry said, sounding awed. Nat felt her cheeks flush.

"As soon as she figured out how to use the computer she starting using it to create the faces," her dad said.

Her mum laughed. "It was good fun to watch her try to teach Curtis how to use the software. She was five! He never did get it. Nat would get anyone working with him to help her learn new things. He had several interns who taught her quite a lot."

"She's an amazing kid," Ginny said again. "She talks like an adult."

"We took her to a psychologist a few times, especially since she's been exposed to a lot of things that most children wouldn't normally see," her mother told them.

Nat looked over at Al, who was studying her as he listened to their parents talking.

"We didn't want her to be hurt by the work," her dad explained. "The doctor spent a lot of time talking to her and said that she's fairly well adjusted, clearly brilliant, and that she's very typical of a homeschooled child, especially for an only child. They tend to talk more like an adult and don't have problems talking to a wide range of people. Nat's just… different… but in a very good way. I'm ashamed to say that I've asked for her expert opinion on several cases and been astounded by the fact that I consider her an expert even though she's a child and has had no formal schooling on the subject. There are times when I look back and wonder if I shouldn't have… if she'd have been better at a boarding school, but I believe she can understand just how much she's helped people and that someday that will mean a lot to her."

Nat pulled the Extendable Ear from her ear. She didn't really want to hear anymore. She saw Al do the same and shortly after James and Lily. She crawled back over towards the couches and sat with her back against them, staring into the fire. They all sat around her, Al on her right side. He took her hand in his. "You okay?"

"It was really hard some days," Nat whispered, seeing the flames dance. "I have seen a baby who had been murdered… well, just her skeleton really. It was tough, but I got an idea of what the parents might have looked like long before the DNA could come back. The police were able to catch them using facial recognition software from the drawing I came up with on the computer. I just… I see them. I see them for what they are." She shuddered. "It was important work and I'm glad I did it, but I'm never going to get the image of that baby's skull out of my head."

Al's arms came around her first, then James on her other side and finally Lily throwing herself on top of the pile in an awkward and amazing hug. Finally Lily sat back on her heals and asked, "What's a savant?"

"Genius," Al said quietly. "Nat's a genius."

"Well, we knew that," Lily said, rolling her eyes and reaching for her mug of hot cocoa. "Why can't they use normal words?"

"I'm not a genius," Nat corrected. "I'm gifted, but not a genius. I just have an eye for faces, like my dad said. And," she added with a small smile. "They didn't expect us to be spying on them so why would they use easier words?"

"You're a genius with languages, too," James reminded her, ignoring her jab that they'd been spying. He went back to the chess board and started to reset. "Can you learn to speak Mermish because I have several questions about the giant—"

"Bedtime, you lot!" Ginny called, coming into the room. She eyes Nat and Al who were still sitting close together on the floor. "You two okay?'

Al answered for them. "Never better, Mum."

Nat gave her parents hugs and went to bed not long after with Lily. She crawled into bed, snuggling under the soft, warm covers. "Night, Lily."

"Night," Lily said. She was quiet for almost five minutes and Nat was almost asleep when she spoke again. "Am I really going to be that beautiful?"

Nat yawned and rolled onto her side. "Yeah, you will be. You already are. As long as you remember that beauty is as beauty does, you'll have the boys throwing themselves at your feet."

There was a long pause before Lily asked, "What does that mean exactly?"

"Treat people well or it won't matter what your face looks like— no one will want to be around you," Nat explained. "Not that I think you'll have a problem, though. You're nice."

"Still, I'll remember that." Lily let out a sigh. "Thanks, Nat."

"Sure."

A/N: Have you checked out my book yet? If you haven't, take a second, head to my profile and check it out! There is a FREE preview on many of the sites. Please, please, please at least go look :)

If you have read it, let me know what you think. I want to hear! Good and bad.

Thank you, Arnel, for all of your help!

I'm working on my third original right now. Once that is done I'll put more work into this story and might move to posting faster. I'm just very focused on the other story and can't hold two plots in the forefront of my brain. It will happen, though. My track record proves I do NOT leave things unfinished.

Review! Tell me what you think.


	7. Chapter 4

Her parents could only stay for two days, but they were an amazing two days. Nat went flying with Al to show her parents and although they were a tad uncomfortable about it, they quickly overcame it. Mostly, Nat knew, because Al refused to go very fast while they were watching.

Her parents and Al's parents rubbed along really well and when Rose's parents came over the night before they left, the six of them stayed up late laughing and talking. Nat heard Ginny say to her mum that it was as if they'd known them forever, which Nat could appreciate. She felt the same way about Al, Rose and Scorpius. There was an almost instant connection between the four of them.

"My turn," Rose said as Nat fiddled with her dad's laptop on their last day there. He'd brought it along, ostensibly to show her something he'd discovered on this really old skeleton, but Nat knew it was because he'd lost several files and needed her to find them. Harry and Hermione had fiddled with it till they coaxed it into working in the magical house. She was showing several of the Weasley cousins the aging software.

Rose sat in front of the laptop and Nat took her picture using the computer's built in camera. She played with it for a while and eventually an image took shape, showing Rose at eighteen. "You look like your mum, but I figured you would. This software is really advanced, too. I can modify the image a lot more than I used to with the older version. It used to take a long time to get an accurate picture and even then it was still guess work with some science."

"You look good, Rose," Fred told her.

"What about you, Nat?" Al asked. "You've done everyone else."

Nat went to the desk top and pulled up the folder with her stored pictures. "I did mine ages ago. It's nothing special, really. I probably won't change much." She clicked on the file and pulled it up. "I changed a lot from my baby pictures. If I age myself before I fell in the tomb I grow up to be pretty much exactly like my mum, but something must have gotten mixed up when I got cursed. I didn't put it together until yesterday what must have happened. See, this is what I'll turn into now." The picture had pulled up, showing her straight hair around her small, heart-shaped face. Her nose was too small, her eyes too big, and her cheeks to high and her mouth too wide.

"You sort of look like one of those Muggle pixies that we saw at Euro Disney last year," Rose told her.

Nat cocked her head to the side. "You're right, sort of. Mostly it's in the shape of my face and thankfully without the pointed ears. And this one," she went back to the folder, "is a rendering from a picture from when I was three, before the curse." She clicked it and a tall, pretty woman who looked remarkably like her mother, but with her father's eyes and nose, appeared.

"Wow, that is different," Al said, whistling.

"You would have been so pretty," James said and Rose and Roxy both hit him hard. "OW! Sorry, I didn't mean it that way, I just…"

"I know, James. It's okay," Nat said, closing the files, trying to not let James' words sting. "It is what it is and no sense being upset by it. I'm just glad to know what happened. I was really confused before." She grinned at them. "So that's what I did in my free time growing up."

~*~

Nat had to work hard not to cry that evening when she hugged her parents. "We're both going to make it back to London for your Easter holiday," her mum promised. "I've already told my boss that's not negotiable since it's also your twelfth birthday."

"We love you, Peanut," her dad said. "I wish we didn't have to get back to work."

The Potter and Weasley kids refused to let her brood over her parents and it was quickly decided that they were going to have a game of what they called 'midnight hide and go seek'. They Floo called all the cousins and nearly everyone in the family decided to join in and shortly after dinner, Nat found herself dress in all black in the Potter's large dining room with the rest of the family. They looked like a motley crew about to attend a funeral. Only Aunt Audrey couldn't come because she was on call that night at St. Mungo's. Even Teddy had come.

"The rules are simple," Harry told her. "It's a normal game of hide and go seek with a few twists. One person is 'it' and the rest scatter to hide. The person who is 'it' gives the rest of the family a one minute head start before going out to search. The person who is 'it' tries to find and tag as many people as possible and those that get tagged also go seek out the others who are hidden. After five minutes of play Gran will call out and those who haven't been tagged have to leave their hiding places and try to make it back safely here to the table where Gran will be waiting. That's the dangerous time since it's easier to get caught then. Either the last person not tagged, or the first person back to the table wins. We play it in pitch darkness and the boundaries are already marked around the yard, through the woods, with red lights. You won't be able to go past the line."

"Gran is the referee and her word is final," Grandad Weasley said cheerfully, donning a black cap over his silver hair.

"Do you do this often?" Nat asked, seeing the excitement on everyone's faces, including all the mums.

They all nodded. "Every chance we get," Dominique assured her.

"Who's 'it' first?" Nat asked, but Ron has already put a hat in front of his mother, who drew out a name.

"Percy is 'it' first," she said. "I'll give the signal in one minute for Percy to start."

Nat felt Al take her hand in his.

"Go," Gran Molly said and Al pulled her behind him, out of the house.

Nat couldn't ever remember having more fun in her life. Her heart raced every time they were nearly caught, and they laughed when they were caught and they caught others and when the dads and Ginny would jinx each other trying to get back first. Nat and Al only once managed to make it back to the table without getting tagged, although Lucy beat them there by about thirty seconds. They sat with Gran Molly and waited for the others to get back, breathless with excitement. "How did you come up with this?"

"It was George, well really it was Luna, but you don't know her," Gran told her. "All of them were having trouble after the final battle and grieving. George was really down and Luna told us about this game she and her father would play. By the end of the first night everyone loved it." Gran sighed, but it wasn't a sad sigh, more of a remembrance. "It was good to watch. They kept it up, playing nearly every time we all got together. I've always been the referee and sometimes the babyminder. Just as soon as Teddy was two Harry had him out there playing as well. Teddy would giggle or talk and give them away, but the others tended to let Harry escape with him, chasing slowly while Teddy shrieked with laughter."

Nat tried to picture Teddy as a baby and formed a clear image of the toddler in Harry's arms, running around in the dark. It was a good image. "This is so much fun."

When they finally fell in to bed, well after midnight, Nat was exhausted and happy, even though she missed her parents. It was Christmas Eve the next day and everyone would be back Christmas Day for presents and a huge dinner. She let out a contented sigh and fell asleep immediately.

~*~

Christmas Eve was quiet around the Potter house during the morning. They'd all slept in late from their game the night before, and they sat around in the living room playing Exploding Snap. They were on their fourth game when the fireplace roared to life and Scorpius stumbled out.

"Hey," Al said, looking surprised. "I thought you said you couldn't come."

Scorpius looked unsure for a moment before sitting down with them. "I'd had enough. My dad isn't speaking to me, and my mum is mad at him for not speaking to me. She told me I could come over for a while when I asked. I needed to get away from him. Sorry I didn't send an owl to check before. I was about ready to lose it."

"Did I hear—"

Nat turned to see Ginny frozen in the doorway, surprise written on her face, but it faded quickly. A small smile came to her lips.

"Mum, this is Scorpius," Al said, introducing him.

"Hello," Ginny said. "Al said you might come. I'm glad you could make it."

"Thank you," Scorpius said, his cheeks a little pink.

Ginny nodded. "Lunch will be in about twenty minutes you lot. I'll call you in a few to come set the table."

"I'm Lily," Lily said, holding out her hand. Scorpius shook it and said hello.

"You should have been here last night," James told him. "We played midnight hide and go seek."

"What's that?" Scorpius asked, picking up one of the exploding snap cards.

Nat played her next card while Lily explained the game. "It's so much fun! We'll have to let you know next time we play."

"I've never had so much fun," Nat told him, unable to contain her grin.

Scorpius grinned back, and Nat could tell he wanted to try it. "Hopefully, my dad will just disown me and I'll be able to do whatever I like."

Before anyone could comment the whole pile of cards blew up, and singed Al's sleeve.

After lunch they went out back to fly. Nat tried to get on a broom by herself, but once again the broom dumped her off. "That is not fair," Nat grumbled as she climbed onto Al's broom with him. "I'm loads better now that I'm not cursed."

"It's all right, Nat. I don't mind," Al assured her. "We can go really fast today."

They flew until nearly three o'clock when it started to snow. They went in for hot chocolate and to warm up. Nat sipped at some unsweetened herbal tea, as they sat around the kitchen table, chatting happily.

"I've got to go," Scorpius said finally. "I promised Mum I'd be back by four o'clock."

"Come back any time," Ginny told him sincerely and he grinned at her. "We enjoyed having you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Potter. I'll see you later."

Harry arrived home about an hour later and was told about their house guest. He only raised an eyebrow at the name, but seemed reassured by Ginny's words that he was a nice boy. They ate a quiet supper and everyone turned in early, knowing that the whole family would arrive around ten the next morning for gifts. They didn't do gifts on the end of the bed like most families. Instead they'd all gather and exchange gifts together around the tree.

~*~

"He was nice," Ginny told Harry as she chopped onions next to her husband, while he diced potatoes. While she could have done it quickly with magic, they enjoyed this time together to talk and reconnect. There was a very reasonable chance that none of the children would wander in to the kitchen. They'd have been put to work. "Honestly, Harry, I was so surprised, but he's just a normal kid. He looked so scared, though. I think he thought I was going to kick him out."

"I trust you," Harry assured her quietly. "I just…" his voice faded off.

She turned to look at him, trying to read his expression. "What if your grandparents had turned Sirius away? What if Narcissa hadn't spared your life in the forest? You'd be dead. She saved you by not revealing you to Voldemort."

"You're right," he said firmly, dumping the potatoes in a pot. "I want to get to know him better, though. We should invite him over when I can actually meet him."

"We will this summer," Ginny promised, sniffing from the onion odor. "I think you'll like him, and if he comes during the day I can send you a message and you can come home to meet him."

Harry nodded slowly. "I went back through the box."

She frowned, trying to figure out what he meant. "That box?"

"The records of what happened," he told her quietly. "I looked through all the case notes. I know it can't have been her who sent the note since she'd dead and I'm still getting them, but I'm constantly drawn back to it."

"Luv," Ginny said gently, putting her arms around his waist and pulling him in tight. "You have fantastic instincts. Maybe there is something there to find."

He sighed heavily, and laid his cheek on the top of her head. "I keep circling back to her, and wondering if she had an accomplice. I thought maybe her sister, you know, Goyle's mum, but she died a few years ago. I've investigated every avenue and I can't see where else I can look."

"Do you want to talk to Hermione?" she probed, eyeing him curiously. "She is the Deputy Head of the Magical Law Enforcement, after all."

Harry shook his head. "I have nothing to go on except those stupid notes. We've got no leads on them, at all. She's not going to have any more insight than we've had. I just… I don't want to make a move without having something." He ran a hand through his hair, standing it even further on end. "I can't explain it properly."

She stood on tiptoes and gently brushed his mouth with hers. "I trust you. You'll figure it out someday, and in the meantime you'll keep us safe."

"More security around the house," Harry said after a moment pause, not really looking at her now. "After the kids go back to school, so that they don't ask questions."

"Lily?" Ginny asked, but needn't have. She knew Lily wouldn't question her father doing something around the house. She accepted those things, where as her curious brothers would want to know every detail.

His troubled eyes met hers. "Am I doing the right thing?"

"I don't know," she licked her lips, and held his gaze. "I trust you, though. You'll figure it out, and if you don't then we'll realize that it wasn't worth fretting over."

"Mum!" James yelled, skidding in to the kitchen. "I'm starving."

"Set the table," Ginny and Harry said in unison.

James rolled his eyes, and walked out hollering, "Al! Mum says set the table."

He was gone before they could scold him.

~*~

The next morning everyone was in for a surprise. Nat, Al and Lily padded down to the living room and found a large, redheaded man sleeping under a quilt on the sofa.

Lily squealed and threw herself onto the man, who grunted and woke up with a start. "UNCLE CHARLIE!"

Shortly thereafter Harry, Ginny and James came running in to see what the commotion was about and Nat realized immediately that Charlie was not expected at all this Christmas. After hugs were exchanged and she was introduced, Charlie explained. "Wanted to surprise Mum," Charlie told them, while Lily snuggled in his arms. "Can't kip on her sofa if I'm going to surprise her. You were all asleep when I got in last night so I thought I'd just see you this morning."

They talked and laughed over breakfast. Everyone busted up when Ginny put her freezing hands on Charlie's arm to warm them up and he started swearing and pushed her over to Harry. Nat grinned as she watched Harry manfully tolerate her freezing fingers on his cheeks. "It's real love when a bloke will put up with this," she said winking at Lily and Nat.

"Yeah, not for brothers, Smidge," Charlie said to her as he walked over to the table to sit down.

Nat was sitting next to Al. She leaned over to him and said, "That's how big Fred will be in a few years; you too if you work at it. You've all got the same general bone structure."

"Come again?" Charlie asked.

Nat blushed. She hadn't realized he was listening. "Erm, bone structure… you, Mr. George, Fred and Al all have the same body architecture. I was telling Al that's what he's going to look like if he works at it."

"I thought George told you to call him the holey one?" Ginny mused.

Harry ignored his wife's joke. "Really?" he questioned, looking skeptical. "Al looks more like me, I think."

"His face yes, but his body no. James has your build. It's in the shoulder breath and the width of their bones. James is going to have your build, maybe a bit taller, but Al's bones are thicker than James' bones." She grabbed Al's wrist and held it up, along with hers. "See how much wider it is? His wrist is over twice mine. Even though he's skinny now, he's going to grow into the bones. The bones don't lie."

Charlie was goggling at her and Lily giggled. "Her dad is a world famous Muggle bone man. He knows all about people and what they'll look like and guess what, Uncle Charlie! I'm going to be extremely beautiful, just like Aunt Fleur! Nat showed James how to draw my picture of what I'll look like. I'm thinking about having twenty boyfriends when I get to Hogwarts."

Nat had to bite hard on her cheek to keep from laughing and she saw that Lily's mum was having the same problem. Lily was stringing them along for all it was worth and Nat could see that Charlie had taken the bait. "I don't think so, Lily! You're not dating until you're at least forty." He turned to Harry, who was looking pale and horrified. "Back me up, here! Maybe she should be schooled at home."

"I suggested it," Harry sighed. "Gin says she's going to Hogwarts."

"Ginny," Charlie said, trying to sound reasonable. "Boys are no good. The whole lot of us are rotten to the core. You can't let Lily go to school! What about an all witches school, then?"

"There aren't any in Europe, Charlie. She's going to Hogwarts," Ginny said firmly. "I went and I was just fine."

Harry went even paler. "Oh bloody- no, no she's not going! I know what happened with you and I'm not—" he cut off mid-sentence blushing.

Charlie was glaring at him. "What do you mean you—"

"Excuse me," Ginny interrupted calmly. "She's going to Hogwarts you two. She'll have a great time, maybe have a few boyfriends, play Quidditch, learn something and graduate. End of discussion." Ginny grinned at her daughter. "Lily Luna, it's not nice to wind up your dad and uncle. You hold an important position, being the baby girl of the family. They're terribly frail where you're concerned. Best give it a rest for now."

"Hey!" Charlie said, but Harry seemed to agree with his wife.

Nat helped clean up from breakfast and watched avidly as Ginny showed her how magical cooking was different from Muggle cooking. Before long she was back into the groove of preparing food. "We typically had a cook wherever we went. My dad liked to hire local women who often wouldn't get as good a job otherwise and we always ended up with fantastic local food. I loved hanging out in the kitchen with them, learning to prepare different dishes."

"You are a fascinating kid, Nat," Ginny told her affectionately. "You have so many different interests. I can see why Al and Rose are so fond of you."

Nat blushed. "I'm fond of them, too. I've not really had friends that I'll get to keep for longer than a few months."

"I heard from Rose and Fred," Ginny continued, "that you're part of the reason that James has settled down a bit."

Nat eyed her warily, not sure if she was in for it or not. Ginny didn't seem angry, but she could imagine that when provoked that Al's mum would have quite the temper. "Erm…"

Mrs. Potter turned to her, a twinkle in her eyes and Nat relaxed. "I'm not angry. Fred told me that you convinced him to turn James' underpants pink."

"With flowers," Nat added before snapping her mouth shut. She relaxed when she saw the older woman smiling. "He just wouldn't stop going on about being on the Quidditch team!"

"I gathered," Ginny said resignedly. "I love him to bits, but from everything I've heard he's just like his namesake, Harry's father. You've had a good influence on Al as well. When he wrote and said that he'd made a friend who shut James up and helped him stand up to his brother… well, that cinched it. I wanted to meet you. You wouldn't know it now, but James used to torment Al all the time. I've not seen him really pick on him much."

"James isn't so bad," Nat said, resuming cutting the onions, and sniffing back the tears that sprang up from the powerful fumes. "He just needed to remember that he wasn't the only one who could dish it out."

Nat tensed for a split second as Ginny's arm came around her shoulder for a quick half hug, but then relaxed. "Yes, but only Lily, Fred and Dominique have ever dished it back to James. You've given Al the courage to stand up for himself."

Nat kept chopping up onions as she spoke. "I dunno about that… but anyway Al helps me all the time. He's kept me out of the hospital wing more times than I can count. He's got excellent reflexes and always manages to catch me before I hit the floor or a wall or the stairs…"

"I'd noticed that," his mother agreed. Nat glanced at her quickly, not sure how to read her tone, but Ginny went on to another subject. "You've led an interesting life. Most kids haven't ever left their own country, but you've been everywhere and you know things most adults will never know. For instance, you seem like a very capable chef, especially for someone so clumsy. You're very dexterous with your hands."

Nat grinned. "Thankfully it's mostly my feet that get me in trouble, not my hands. I love to learn. It keeps life interesting. It doesn't even matter what I'm learning. A lot of the cooks my dad hired were usually really great about me helping them because most of them had kids so it was refreshing to be around someone who didn't mind me much. Many of Dad's colleagues didn't want me around because they were all confirmed bachelors, or so my dad said." She dumped a pile of diced onions into a bowl. "I'm glad Dad liked having me there. He's a great teacher, always willing to show me what he was doing and explain it to me." Nat froze as she heard a scream from the living room.

"That will be Gran seeing Charlie," Ginny told her with a wink.

Lunch was served at eleven o'clock and the whole crew tucked in. Nat had convinced Mrs. Potter to let her make traditional Korean orange chicken and everyone was raving over it, much to her delight. She'd wanted to give something back to them for all they'd done for her. They'd taken her in so she didn't have to spend Christmas alone, rid her of a debilitating curse, and even gave her two wonderful days with her parents. Nat thought that the least she could do was make something for them.

"This is fantastic," Ron said, already on his fourth helping. "It's not anything like what you'd get at a restaurant."

"It's all in what you put in it," Nat said, blushing.

After lunch Teddy arrived with his grandmother and they gathered near the large tree in the living room to open gifts. Nat curled up at the foot of one of the couches, laughing with everyone as they opened gifts and threw wrapping paper at each other.

"Here," Al said, handing her a gift. "This is from Rose and me."

"Thanks," Nat said, chewing on her lip and opening the paper to see a small, hand held mirror. "It's nice," she told him honestly.

"That's a two-way mirror… well, four-way," Rose told her. "I asked Mum to make them for us. You'll be heading all over the world during the summers and this way we can all talk and keep up with each other. Owls take weeks to make it around the world. Mum says it will work just like Skype or like FaceTime on the iPad. Al, Scorpius and I have one as well. That way Scorpius won't have to hear it from his dad if we want to talk. "

Nat's lower lip began to tremble and tears prickled at her eyes. She felt Rose's arms go around her shoulders. "Thank you. I… this is the best gift. I didn't want to wait weeks to hear from you this summer."

She heard someone clear their throat and she looked up to see Hermione smiling. "I do have a condition on those mirrors. You're not allowed to use them during class or during detentions if you ever wind up in detention."

Nat let out a watery giggle. "Deal."

Nat gave Al and Rose their gifts, something she'd had to badger James into helping her with, but it had been worth it. It was a hand drawn picture of the four of them, Al, Rose, Scorpius and her, aged up to around twenty, standing arm in arm. She'd had James write "To the Future" on the bottom and she'd then had Ginny help her make copies. It had Scorpius on the left, Rose then Nat in the middle, and Al on the other end.

"I wanted to give you something that only I could really give you. I gave one to Scorpius too." Nat explained, feeling inexplicably shy. She shot James an appreciative look. "James did a good job drawing them for me."

"It's great," Al told her.

"We'll have to hang on to these until we are twenty and then pose for a camera and put them side by side," Rose exclaimed enthusiastically. Al stared at her dumbly. "Okay, probably I'm the only one who'll want to do that."

Al's cousin Molly leaned over Rose's shoulder to look at the picture. "Is this right? Is Rose really going to be that tall?"

"Let's see," Charlie said, holding out a hand.

"She's not that tall, actually," Nat said sheepishly, casting Rose an apologetic look. "She's only slightly taller than average now. She just looks really tall next to me. Scorpius will be a little taller than her and Al."

Fleur took the picture from her husband. "Mon Dieu! Look at them."

Harry took Al's copy to examine it. "Most people have to actually wait to grow up to see how they're going to turn out, or take an aging potion. This is quite a talent you've got. How tall will you be Nat?"

Nat sighed heavily. "If I start really growing I might get close to five feet, which is about a meter and a half, but I probably won't. Odds are good I'll be a couple inches below that."

George took it next. "Well, you four make quite the set."

They were almost done with gifts when Gran Molly stood up to start handing out lumpy packages. "Excellent," Al whispered next to her. "Weasley jumpers."

Gran moved around the circle and handed one to Nat. "When I wrote to Rose she said you're about Lily's size, but I think it might be a little big."

"I don't mind," Nat said, overwhelmed. "Thank you!" she said, hopping to her feet and throwing her arms around the older woman. "Thank you so much!" The jumper wasn't even opened, but that didn't matter. It was currently being squashed between them.

"You're welcome," Gran said, holding onto her, and giving her a hard hug back. When they broke off, she didn't fully let go but cupped Nat's cheek with her soft hand. "You're a good girl, Natalie."

Nat sniffed and opened her jumper along with everyone else after Gran had finished handing them all out. She beamed as she pulled the plum jumper over her head and rolled the sleeves back a bit. It was warm and soft and she felt like she belonged. She settled back on the floor next to Al. She grinned at him and he grinned back before plucking at the hem of her sweater. "It's a dress on you."

If Nat hadn't rolled her eyes and looked away from him for a split second she'd have missed the look Ginny, Hermione and Gran exchanged between them. It was an odd mix between shock and knowing._What does that mean?_ she thought.

"Nat?" Al caught her attention.

She swatted at his hand away playfully. "Doesn't matter, Al. I think it's perfect."

~*~

Harry and Ginny walked hand in hand up the stairs of their quiet house. The excitement of Christmas was over and everyone was settled in for the night. The kitchen had been put to rights, the presents stored and all was still as the world was blanketed in thickly falling snow.

Harry closed the door behind them and Ginny went over to the bed and crawled in, sitting with her back propped up against the headboard to watch Harry as he changed into sweat pants and a t-shirt. They had been married for almost twenty years and he still had the ability to turn her insides to mush. When he looked over she grinned at him. "What's up with you?" he asked, pulling on his shirt and padding over. "Are you sleeping in those clothes?"

"Al is completely gone over Natalie," Ginny told him and she enjoyed watched the shock wash over his face.

Almost instantly his expression turned skeptical. "Come on, Gin," he shook his as he sat on the edge of the bed and laced his fingers in hers. "They're eleven. Don't you think it's a bit early to be matchmaking?"

"I'm not matchmaking," she correctly mildly. "Al is a completely different kid around her."

Harry hesitated, "Well… I mean, he seems like he's come out of his shell some, but… Ginny, they're eleven!"

"That is not the son we sent off to school," Ginny pointed out stubbornly. "I hardly recognized him even though I've been seeing the shift in his letters."

"I guess you're right," he said. "She does seem to bring something out in him, but she's definitely an odd child."

"Oh, yeah," Ginny agreed laughing. "But in the best kinds of ways. I didn't know what to expect when we met her but here she is, this tiny little dynamo who has the poise of someone so much older. She's funny, smart, respectful and I really like her. I really like her parents, too."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "They were great. Curtis and I had a good time at a pub before the Portkey left. The whole traveling by magic thing didn't throw him as much as I was expecting." Sighing Harry lay down with his head in her lap so she could stroke her fingers through his hair. "She is titchy, though. She even makes Lily look like a giant, and that's not really easy to do since Lily is small like you."

Ginny scrunched up her nose, pretending to glare at him. "I am not small."

"Well," Harry said giving her a once over from his limited vantage point. "Well… not small in certain places."

"You…" Ginny said, leaning over to kiss him. "You are trouble, Potter."

"Ah, but you knew that when you married me," Harry reminded her. "I've always been trouble." They kissed again. "Speaking of marrying me, what do you want to do for our twenty year anniversary? It's only a few months off."

Ginny's mind went almost immediately out to the little grave across the stream, to their first child. When she thought of their wedding, Hope always came to her mind. "Yeah…"

"Gin," Harry sat up and pulled her into his arms. "I didn't mean to make you sad."

"No," Ginny said, wrapping her arms around his trim waist thankful that he could read her so well. "No, you didn't. I'm not sad. It's just hard to believe that if she'd lived that she'd be about to turn nineteen."

Harry gently kissed her temple. "Time has flown by."

"The kids are going to ask more questions soon," she said, burying her nose in his soft shirt. "Honestly, I'm amazed that they haven't yet. If they do the math they'll figure out I was sixteen when we got married."

Harry sighed and pulled her backwards so that they fell back onto the bed with Ginny half-sprawled across him. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"I don't want them to know the whole story," she admitted with a hitch in her voice. "I don't want any of them to hear just how awful people can be."

He ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall gently through his fingers. "Then we don't tell them the full story."

"We can't lie to them, Harry," she huffed. "Just because I don't want them to know, doesn't mean they don't deserve the truth. Just… just maybe not the truth any time soon."

Harry shifted and pulled her more fully against her. "Teddy took it okay," he reminded her gently. "Well, he cried some, but he understood."

That had been one of the hardest talks Ginny had ever sat through. Teddy had known about Hope already. He'd seen her grave all his life because he was in and out of their backyard as much as his own. When he'd finally learned to read he'd asked her and she'd told him about the baby they had lost. It was very brief details, but enough that he could understand. When he was fifteen he finally did the math and worked out just how young Ginny had been, he'd gone straight to them for some answers.

Harry had told him the truth. Ginny had tried not to cry, but she hadn't managed it and by the end of the story Teddy was crying on her shoulder, his tall, lanky frame shaking.

"How did you do it?" Teddy asked. "I'm going to be sixteen soon and I can't even imagine being in that position."

Harry had looked at him steadily and had replied softly, "Just make sure you don't put anyone in that position, yourself included."

Teddy understood completely.

"Bill asked me to talk to Teddy," Harry said, snapping Ginny back to the present. "He's worried about Victoire."

"What did you tell him?" Ginny said, eyeing him.

Harry shrugged. "I told him that Teddy knows the truth about Hope and that he didn't have to worry about it."

Sighing heavily, she nodded and slowly rose up from the bed to change into her sleepwear. "Still, you should have that talk with Teddy before too long. They're getting to be that age and it's looking like they're going to stick it out. I'm sort of surprised at how long they've been together."

"I will," Harry assured her as he slid under the quilt. "Definitely before she comes home this summer now that she's of age and finishing school, but let's go back to Al."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm not saying they're going to get married or anything. I'm just saying that he's smitten with her, even if he doesn't know it and I'm inclined to think that he doesn't or he'd be shy around her." Ginny padded back over and crawled in next to him, cuddling up to his side. "Mum and Hermione also saw it. He's careful with her and very aware of her. Hermione said it's like watching how you are with me. You really didn't see anything?"

Harry rolled until he was half on top of her and kissed the tip of her nose. "What was there to see?"

"She loves flying," Ginny smirked. "He loves taking her flying."

"Well, if that isn't a marriage proposal I don't know what is," Harry said dryly. "Let's send out the invitations."

"You mark my words, Harry. She's going to have a major impact on him, more than she already has."

Her husband bent again, nuzzling her neck. "If you say so."

"I want to go to Ireland for our anniversary," she told him, tilting her head so he could get to that spot she loved behind her ear. "Let's leave Lily with Ron and Hermione and spend a weekend away."

"I was thinking a whole week," Harry murmured as he made his way down to her collarbone.

"I like the way you think."

~*~

"Look at the snow!" Nat said the next morning. "It's so beautiful."

"Snowball fight!" James shouted as he came into the kitchen and looked out the window. "I'm going to get the cousins."

The fight was intense and fiercely competitive.

Nat ran across the bridge, over the almost completely frozen stream with Al hot on her heels, snowball in hand. Nat's foot hit an exposed tree branch and she fell giggling into a pile of snow next to a large oak tree.

Al flopped next to her, laughing. "I think I win this round."

"You won the last round," Nat panted. "Come on, we have to get a move on before we get ambushed". She put her hand down and it slipped on something under the snow. "What's that?"

Al frowned and then comprehension crossed his face as he pushed the snow away from a grave marker.

'Hope Potter 23rd August 1998'

"It's my sister's grave. My mum had a miscarriage," Al explained. "She doesn't talk about it much and when she does mention it, she cries."

Nat stared at the name and date, her mind racing as the dates and math started to filter in. She didn't know exactly how old Al's mum was, but Nat was reasonably certain she wasn't more than thirty four or thirty five. "That's sad. I'm sorry, Al."

Al nodded, and stood. He held out his hand and hoisted her onto her feet. "It was a long time ago."

"Yeah," Nat agreed and watched his face. He didn't seem to realize that his mum had been a teenager when she'd gotten pregnant.

A snowball hit Al in the back of the head and the fight was back on.

A/N: Have you checked out the free preview of my book? Check my profile! Pretty please :D I made the top 50 in young adult books list on amazon. Thank you to everyone who has.

So this story... I haven't written anymore, because quite frankly my head is stuck in the original. Never fear, as soon I'm through with the other, I will focus on this one. Full stop, tons of work on it. Promise. You can show your support for me by reading the free chapter of my book on amazon ;)

I have to thank Arnel for being a rock star beta!

Last, there is THIS chapter and NEXT chapter this still focus heavily on Nat, then it switches. Have patience dear readers, I promise we'll swap it up. I need to get some stuff settled with her first, as I'm setting a stage for a very big, complicated, looooooong plot. It'll be worth it, just hang tight.

Tell me what you think! Thank you for all the fun reviews everyone! ~Sarah


	8. Chapter 5

"How was it?" Rose asked Scorpius, her face pinched in concern as she shifted restlessly on her seat. Nat sat next to her as they sped along the countryside back to Hogwarts. Christmas was over. It was time to get back to school.

Scorpius shrugged. "He was a prat all through Christmas. Aunt Daphne eventually blew up at him and told him to get over it and that I could have worse friends." A smirk flitted across his face. "Then she said, 'you know, Draco, just like the friends _you_ had during your years at Hogwarts? The ones that nearly got you killed?' That shut him up and he's not said anything since. My aunt is basically the only one who stands up to him anymore. He did say that I'm not to mention you three to my grandparents."

Al rolled his eyes. "Uncle Ron told Rose she wasn't to get too friendly with you when we were about to get on the train, remember, Rose?"

Nat looked over to see Rose blushing. "Really?"

Rose sighed, "Yes, but I can decide whom I want to be friends with and Dad was joking."

"I don't think he cares about you being friends, he just doesn't want you two to get married," Al said.

Rose's face went red and Scorpius looked as though he wanted to throw himself from the train. Nat had to fight hard not to bang her head against the compartment wall. "Al, you just said the exact wrong thing."

"What?" Al said, clearly confused. "That's what he said!"

Nat blew out a breath. "He was probably teasing her and while in some cultures kids get married at thirteen, we're not one of them. They're not ready to get married any time before they're twenty-five or so."

"My dad and mum got married earlier, at twenty I think," Al told her. "I think Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were twenty-two."

Nat stared at him. _He clearly doesn't know,_ she thought. But she wanted desperately to save Rose from the waves of embracement that she could feel rolling off the other girl. "Yes, but it's embarrassing. Would you like Rose to tell me all about how your parents had told you not to marry me?"

Al squeaked, before cottoning on to the fact that she'd turned the tables on him. "Oh. Sorry, you two, I didn't mean to…you know."

Scorpius clapped him on the shoulder. "The picture you sent me was excellent. I really like the mirror, too. How did you get the owl to me without my parents seeing it?"

"Dad did it," Al told him. "One of the perks of having an Auror in the family is getting letters to people secretly."

Rose seemed all too glad of a reason to change subjects and launched into an explanation on the mirrors as the train clacked along the tracks.

~*~

A frantic knock rapped at Harry's office door, and before he could say anything Hermione sidled in, closing the door behind her. Her short hair was tied back from her face, but the curls were starting to explode out. She looked slightly manic. "I need your assistance."

"What?" Harry asked standing and grabbing his cloak. He moved over to her, but she still hadn't opened the door. "What's up?"

"I got a message from Timons. We've had a girl brought in from a raid of an old hut that the MLE was investigating for possible smuggling of magical objects. She's… oh, Harry, she's not doing well and her story…" She nattered on rapidly. Tears filled her eyes, but she quickly shut them down. "It's a matter for the Aurors now, which was partly why I was brought in to liaise. She's hysterical, and the MLE were having trouble and they wanted the boss to make the call."

"Slow down," Harry took her shoulders, looking down in to her shattered face. "What happened?"

"She was being held," Hermione whispered. "Raped and beaten, Harry. She's a mess and…"

His stomach did a slow roll. He nodded curtly and led the way out of his office, on his way to St. Mungo's. "Is Audrey on it?"

"Yes," she assured him as she hurried to catch up. "I'm hoping you can get through to her, but I'm not sure. I wanted you to see her before an Auror was assigned to her case. You'll know who is best to handle it."

Harry didn't respond. He knew that likely he would handle this case all on his own. He only had one senior female Auror at the moment, and she was on maternity leave. He'd been trying to pull more women in, but with no luck.

They arrived at the hospital quickly, and moved towards the room without alerting anyone that they had arrived. The door to her room was guarded, and the MLE officer, Timons, gave them a nod. "She's awake, and calm. The Healers gave her something."

"Thank you," Hermione said briskly as she gave a quick knock and entered, with Harry behind her.

He saw the instant panic on a face that closely resembled Hagrid's after he'd first arrived back with his brother, Gawp. She was average height, with shorn blonde hair, and blue eyes that he could barely make out behind the swollen, matching black eyes. It was telling that they hadn't yet healed the bruising. Her injuries must have been extensive.

Harry held up his hands, and paused. "My name is Harry Potter. I'm here to help." He didn't often use his name to his advantage, but this is one time where it would be an asset. Children had been told from early on that he had saved the world. It made people trust him, even when he hadn't done anything to deserve it.

The girl relaxed slightly. "Coriander Yale," she croaked out through cracked, dry lips. "Cori."

"Cori," Hermione moved slowly over to her. "I told you I would be back. Do you remember?"

"Yes," Cori said, her eyes flitting between them.

"Can we sit?" Harry asked, giving her all of the power. If she hesitated, he'd back off. His training, plus decades of experience, took over and he didn't move until he saw her nod. Harry dragged over another chair for Hermione, and they sat to her left. "We're going to be talking a lot in the next few weeks so that we can bring down whoever did this to you, but I need something to get started on. Is there anything you can tell me right now?" He didn't expect much right away, but he also knew not to push. She'd been pushed around enough.

Also, if he pushed her, Audrey would box his ears. Percy's wife was a force to be reckoned with.

Cori took a deep breath, and stared down at her scratched and bruised hands. To his surprise, she started talking. It was a little disordered, but the story that poured forth was so heartbreaking that he could hardly sit still through it. He wasn't going to need to make notes to remember anything she said, even though he would make copious notes once he arrived back at his office. He was never going to be able to erase the poison that flowed from her, or the horrors of what she'd been put through. How Hermione had stopped herself from crying, he had no idea. He was choked up.

When she finished, he turned to look at Audrey. She'd entered noiselessly during the story, and had waited silently by the closed door. She came forward and ran her wand along Cori's body, nodding at Harry, indicating that he could go on.

"Do you remember what your attacker looked like?" Harry questioned.

"Somewhat," Cori admitted quietly.

"We have a sketch artist," Harry said gently. "He prefers to work from a moment in your memory. We've found that it is easier on your survivors."

Cori gave a short nod, and then looked to Audrey. "Am I pregnant?"

"I think you are," Audrey confirmed carefully, sitting down gingerly on the side of the bed. "It looks like that's what's going on. You're not far enough along yet for the Ministry to have been alerted, though. I just checked. We probably have a day or two. I'm sorry, Cori."

Harry closed his eyes briefly, trying to bring back some calm to his thoughts. Then he looked at her straight on. "Here's what will happen. You will have to marry him if he's magical, and odds are good that he is, but once that is done you will never have to see him again. He will be in prison for the rest of his life and we can make it so that he can't contact you. We will do a Muggle ceremony so that the union doesn't have to be consummated. I have a friend who is a Squib who became a Lutheran pastor and he's helped me out before."

He hated this part most of all. He hated having to tell these women what was in store for them, and just how messed up the magical laws really were. No amount of pushing had moved the Wizengamot to change the law.

At least they had a day before she'd be forced into anything.

She sniffed and looked away. "I'm just stuck with no real husband and a baby I can't care for."

"You can put the baby up for adoption," Audrey assured her. "The other, I'm sorry… it's horrible and unfair and we've fought for almost twenty years to get the law changed."

"I need to tell my boyfriend," Cori whimpered. "Not that he'd likely want me now, but—"

Harry held up a hand. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah," Cori nodded.

"What's his name?" Harry asked her, his eyes narrowing as an idea struck him.

Minutes later, Harry was heading back to the Ministry and down towards the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to meet one Carter Oldford. He was a nineteen-year-old man, new to the department, and probably one of Teddy's classmates. Harry walked in and everyone stopped to stare.

"I need Oldford," he asked, looking around.

A thinner man, medium height with brown hair and black glasses stepped forward looking nervous. He also looked like he hadn't slept in a month. "That's me," he swallowed. "Did you—" but he didn't seem to be able to finish his question.

"Yes," Harry answer with a jerk of his head. He looked over to the head of the department, and couldn't think what her name was. He should know, since she was Hermione's replacement from when she was promoted, but his mind was a blank. "He's with me, probably the rest of the day. Official business."

"Of course, Mr. Potter," she replied.

Carter followed him silently back to his office. Once they were seated, Harry carefully chose his words. "The MLE found her today. Cori has been put through hell, but she's alive and she will heal. Unfortunately, it's likely that she's pregnant."

Carter sucked in a breath.

"That means she has to marry her attacker," Harry told him slowly, and was somewhat gratified to see the tears that remained unshed in the other man's eyes. That gave him hope. "I have a plan that could save her, but we'd have to move fast and it means your help."

"What?" Carter asked him instantly, sitting forward a bit.

He took a deep breath. "She needs to be married before the Ministry registers that she's pregnant. We have a day at most. Once the Ministry is notified officially, she has to marry the biological father. If she's married to someone else before that happens, then she's in the clear."

Carter didn't hesitate. "I'll do it. I wanted to anyway, but we were too young."

Harry bit back a triumphant smile. "She's pregnant with someone else's child. That's going to be a lot."

"I've had three weeks of worrying and wondering," Carter shook his head. "I don't care."

"She also might want to give the baby up for adoption," Harry informed him.

That gave the other man pause. "Okay," he agreed slowly. "Whatever she wants."

"She needs therapy, too," Harry told him. "She needs lots of support. We'll need to use a Muggle pastor to marry you. You can't be soul bound. She's not physically capable of being intimate right now. It's going to be difficult, painful, and a hell of a lot of work."

Carter's brow furrowed. "You talk like you know from experience."

"Not personally," he said grimly. "I've had my own troubles, but not this. I've just seen a few survivors who made it out without getting pregnant. It's very difficult for the men in their lives."

"We'll go to therapy," Carter repeated, twisting his hands. "Anything."

"Do you have enough gold to buy two plain wedding bands?" Harry probed.

Carter nodded without hesitation. "What about her mum?"

"The hospital will have alerted her," Harry told him. "I want you to go get wedding rings, and get back to St. Mungo's as soon as you can. Ask for Healer Audrey Weasley when you get there, tell her you're Cori's boyfriend. If anyone gives you any grief, tell them I ordered you to come."

"I will," Carter said getting to his feet. He stuck out his hand. "Thanks."

Harry sent his assistant to track down his pastor friend. The Muggles had a lot of paperwork, but his friend knew all the ways they could magically make the paperwork appear all in order. It was still legal, which was all they needed. He then traveled back to the hospital.

Cori's mother was in the room when he made it back. After a brief introduction, he explained what had happened with Carter.

Cori looked stunned. "Really?"

"It's up to you," Harry said in a low voice. "You don't have to marry him, but I thought he might be a better alternative."

"I want to," Cori said, and she smiled tentatively. Then her face fell. "I forgot to tell you something."

"What?" he asked, coming in closer to her.

Her bottom lip trembled. "There were others, and she didn't let them live. Most were men and I think a few of them were Muggles."

Harry's heart slammed into his throat. "Who… who is she?"

"I don't know," Cori shook her head helplessly. "I only saw her once, but she was older. Her men were doing something for her."

Harry gave her a reassuring look. "We'll figure it out." He made a mental note to get Dean to the hospital as soon as he could so they could get that sketch.

~*~

Al turned twelve on January nineteenth, with Rose following along two days later.

"I think Mum and Aunt Ginny planned it," Rose told Nat over breakfast the morning of her birthday. "I mean, they got pregnant the exact same time. I think they wanted Al and me to have each other."

Al groaned and dropped his head to the table. "I really don't want to be thinking about this, you know."

Scorpius snorted. "Who would?"

"I think it's interesting," Rose said, sounding hurt. "I mean, Mum won't admit it or anything…"

Al made a pitiful noise. "You asked?"

"Of course, I asked," Rose said indignantly. "I wanted to know. Mum just stalled and promised to tell me when I was older."

"Maybe one of you wasn't planned," Nat speculated. "They wouldn't want to hurt your feelings."

Rose nodded thoughtfully. "True. It would likely be Al, since James was so young when they conceived him and my mum never does anything without planning it all out."

Al started to bang his head on the table.

Scorpius took pity on him and tried to change the subject. "Should we go down and see Hagrid later today?"

Nat ignored this. "Al, it's not like your parents don't love you or anything. They clearly do and it could -be just as easy to assume that neither of you was planned. Birth control is only about ninety-five percent effective when used properly and that's only if it's used."

"Why do you know that?" Scorpius asked, his lips twitching into a smile.

Nat shrugged. "I spent lots of times in hospitals for broken bones and stitches. Sometimes I'd forget to bring a book and pick up pamphlets or magazines."

"But Nat, they'd not have used Muggle means," Rose told her. "Wizards have their own methods and they're usually more effective than the stuff Muggles use."

In the exact same tone, Scorpius asked, "Why do you know that?"

Rose grinned mischievously. "Extendable Ears, of course. Roxy, Lucy, Lily and I learned quite a lot last summer. We were spending the night with Lily after Uncle Harry's birthday party and all the mums were chatting in the kitchen. They thought we'd gone to bed hours before, but we were upstairs talking. Then Lily wanted hot chocolate and we snuck down to get some, and heard them talking, so she ran back up for her stash of Ears and we listened in." A glint of amusement filled her eyes. "You'd be amazed at just how silly they all get when it's just them. We learned loads!"

"Don't tell me," Al's muted voice came from where his forehead still rested on the table. "I really, really don't want to know."

Nat looked at Rose thoughtfully. "I suppose it makes sense that the Wizarding world would be different. Am I going to run into more surprises along the way?"

"Probably," Rose admitted. "My mum's parents are Muggles so I've seen both and some things seem really different. I know my mum and dad got married way before my grandparents did. I think wizards and witches marry sooner than Muggles."

"I think we also live longer," Scorpius added. "My mum said something about that once. She's got a few Muggleborn friends, although my dad doesn't know that."

"Is your dad really as bad as everyone says?" Al asked, looking up with concern.

Scorpius shrugged as if flicking off an annoying fly and shoveled in a large bite of porridge. "It depends. I think he's trying to impress his dad. My grandfather Malfoy is an arrogant berk. I hate having to spend time with him."

Rose placed a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right. I only have to see them twice a year. My mum's parents are great and my Aunt Daphne is a kick." He took a sip of pumpkin juice before continuing. "Mum was in Ravenclaw, but Aunt Daphne was in Slytherin and just before Voldemort took over here her parents left England with her and my mum and moved to America. They knew that if they didn't join they'd be killed instantly, or worse. They came back after Al's dad killed Voldemort."

"What would have been worse?" Al asked, confused. "I mean, if you're dead…"

Scorpius' eyes darkened. "My mum and my aunt are both purebloods, you know? There were a lot of Death Eaters they could have been married off to who wouldn't have been nice to them. It would have been punishment for not supporting Voldemort since they weren't blood traitors." He stared down into his plate. "I'd have stayed and fought against them, but I can see why my granddad didn't."

"So what about your dad?" Nat asked. "Did he fight the Death Eaters?"

Scorpius laughed bitterly in a way that shocked Nat. She'd never heard a kid make that kind of sound. "My dad and Grandfather Malfoy were both Death Eaters. They were both punished after the war, but since they quit before the end of the final battle they weren't punished too much. My grandfather likes to pretend that he wasn't publicly humiliated and he still struts around like he's some important man because he's a Malfoy. It's a load of dragon dung."

"Your grandmother saved my dad's life," Al told him. "Right after he'd been hit with the Killing Curse in the forest."

Rose looked aghast. "How do you know that?"

"I heard Dad and Mum talking the day after Scorpius came to visit. Mum told him how nice Scorpius is and reminded him that if Narcissa Malfoy hadn't lied to Voldemort about him in the forest, he'd have been killed."

"I've never heard that," Rose whispered.

Al rolled his eyes. "It's not like they tell us much of anything, Rose! We didn't even know our parents were famous until about a few years ago. We've only gotten the general story of the last battle _and_they've never gone into detail."

Nat looked over at Scorpius and saw that he was clearly stunned. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" she asked.

"I dunno," Al said, clearing his throat. "It was just… I dunno. I didn't know if Scorpius knew."

"I didn't," Scorpius said quietly. "Wow."

Al shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. We aren't our parents. We can choose to be who we want to be."

Rose looked impressed. "That's very insightful."

"Yes," Nat said dryly. "Who did you hear it from?"

Al grinned sheepishly. "Teddy."

"Miss Parker," Professor Longbottom's voice floated over to them. "The Headmistress wants to see you in her office. Please come with me." He smiled kindly at her stunned look. "Don't worry, you aren't in trouble."

~*~

"Are you sure about this, Potter?" McGonagall asked him, staring at him above her spectacles.

Harry wasn't sure about anything. They had the sketch of the woman that Cori had described, and he couldn't tell for sure that it wasn't Isabella Crabbe, the insane woman who had used magic to impregnate Ginny and had poisoned both of them. But something in the eyes looked the same. He'd seen the memory, too, in fact he'd brought it along just in case.

When Hermione had suggested asking Natalie to look at the sketch, he'd dismissed it and reminded her that Isabella was dead.

"I know," Hermione said slowly, her brow furrowed, "but Harry, that child has a gift for this. I swear it's magical… we don't have to scare her. You show her the sketch that Dean created, and a stack of photos of various women. If she can match them… well, I won't go there just yet. It doesn't have to be traumatic for her."

Harry hadn't agreed until he's spoken to Nat's mother, who was miraculously in London at the moment. He'd explained Hermione's idea and told her that he'd lie to Nat about what he was after. Julienne had agreed.

"It will be fine," Harry said. "I have her mother's permission."

There was a knock at the door and Neville came in with the girl. She smiled when she recognized him, before her face fell. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone is fine," Harry reassured her and he shook Neville's hand.

"I've got a class," Neville said, "but come say 'hello' before you leave."

Harry shepherded her over to a seat, and he sat across from her. "I actually have a favor to ask of you. I need help placing a woman. She was found wandering the streets, and we're sure she's magical, but we're having trouble putting a name to a face. We want to find her family."

"Oh," Nat brightened, and grinned. "I can do that."

Harry pulled out the sketch. "This is the woman, and I have a stack of photos of possibility from missing persons. Some of them are over thirty years old, but I wanted to be thorough."

"It's no problem," Nat said absently as she studied the sketch. "This artist is good."

"He's a classmate of mine," Harry said, and he agreed with her. "We don't need a full time artist, so he comes in when we do."

She nodded, her eyes flying over the picture. "Okay, let me see the photos."

Harry handed her the stack of moving pictures. In it were people he knew couldn't be guilty, as well as both Isabella Crabbe and her sister, Fiona Goyle.

Nat flipped through them. Some she passed over almost instantly. Others she studied a little closer. She came to Fiona and paused for a full minute. "I want to say that this person is a relative."

Harry could have fallen off his chair. "But that's not her?"

"No," Nat assured him firmly. "But they share a few characteristics that I'd say make them close blood relations." Harry felt awful, but he kept his face impassive. He'd been living under the hope that Isabella was dead. If she wasn't…

She kept going. Isabella's photo came up, and Nat stopped. Thirty long, silent seconds ticked by. "This is her, but it's at least twenty years old."

His heart sank. He wanted to ignore her, wanted to dismiss her as a kid, even as his mind slapped him for being stupid. How many times had adults ignored him as a child, when they shouldn't have? "Natalie, thank you. You've been so helpful."

She smiled happily. "I don't mind. This is fun for me." She handed the photos back to him. "I hope that helps you."

"More than I can say," he assured her, even if he wished he could erase what she'd said from his brain.

"Off to class with you, Miss Parker," McGonagall said with a rare, encouraging smile. "You've done well."

As soon as the door closed, the old professor pulled out a scrap of parchment and wrote something down. "Do some research on this, Potter. I think you'll find it interesting."

Harry wasn't sure he was going to find much of interest. He had to get his house back under the Fidelius Charm immediately, and start a massive manhunt for a woman who had faked her own death, and had hidden herself for almost two decades, but he took the slip of parchment and glanced down at it.

On it was written, 'Augmentum Imaginari'.

~*~

Going home to tell Ginny that Isabella Crabbe wasn't dead just about broke Harry's heart. He waited until Lily was asleep before explaining what had happened that day.

"She's sure?" Ginny asked quietly. "Nat was positive?"

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I couldn't push her, Gin, but she seemed that way. She knew who her sister was, even though I couldn't have ever pointed them out as sisters. Also, Minerva gave me a phrase to look up." He fished the slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to Ginny.

"Augmentum Imaginari?" she studied it, even as her hands shook. "Imagine change? Something like that?"

He nodded. "My Latin is very rusty. She told me to figure out what it meant, but I've got no clue. No one I trusted enough to ask at the Ministry knew either. Your dad suggested I go digging through the archives, but I haven't got the time right now. I dunno why she wouldn't just tell me what it meant. It was almost like having Dumbledore back, and not in a good way."

Harry walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of red wine and two glasses. He poured them each half a glass.

Ginny's brow furrowed. "You can get me into the archives, right?"

"Sure," he agreed after taking a sip. "Not the really restricted stuff, of course, but everything else only needs a Department Head to sign off."

"I'll find it," she told him, flicking her gaze up to his.

It was exactly what she did. To everyone else who saw her going in to the archives, it appeared that Ginny was teaching Lily and Hugo how to do research. Much to Hermione's chagrin, and everyone else's delight, the kids decided to research the history of Quidditch while Ginny frantically searched for the term.

She'd bring the kids up to say 'hello' to him or Hermione sometimes before they went home, and both of them were bursting with fun facts, most of which he already knew, and pages of hand written notes that they'd compiled themselves.

They finished their project on Quidditch well before Ginny had located the Latin phrase, and they presented a well-written report to Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Ron along with a model one evening after supper. Harry had to admit that he was really impressed with all they'd accomplished. Even Hermione had to agree that she'd learned a few things she didn't already know.

They continued to go down into the archives, and the kids started reading whatever took their fancy. Lily read up on magical creatures, while Hugo fixated on learning about vampires.

Ginny looked for almost a full month, between her Quidditch games and articles, before she found what she was looking for. Harry had contacted McGonagall a couple of times, but she'd either ignored his letters or told him she didn't know enough to be helpful.

The day she found it, she arranged for Hugo to spend the night so that the adults could talk as late as they wanted without wearing the kids out. As soon as the two little ones were in bed, and their doors warded so they couldn't listen in, the adults assembled around the kitchen table.

"I'm dying here," Harry groaned as Ginny leisurely poured herself a glass of wine. "Gin, come on."

"The phrase refers to a magical gift," Ginny informed them as she sat down. "In this case, it refers to Natalie herself as magically gifted."

"Her ability with faces," Hermione concluded instantly. "When you told me what her parents said, and that she started when she was four or five, well, I knew that something was working there. I've never heard of it, though."

Ron took a swig of his beer and shook his head. "It's funny to think of that titchy girl as being powerful."

"It's her vision that's so amazing, actually," Ginny said. She pulled out a long scroll of parchment on which she'd taken copious notes. "Basically, it works like this. She sees people for who they were, who they are, and who they will become. Her dad says she can do that with skulls as well, but I imagine that's more because she's been given the chance to practice with him, rather than this inborn skill. Like I can run fast, but if given a trainer, I could eventually run a marathon. If someone is born without legs, they'll never be able to do that. Do you see what I mean?"

They all nodded. "So other people have done what she can do?" Harry asked her.

"Yes," Ginny sighed heavily, "but it's been hundreds of years since the last one was alive. It goes beyond seeing faces, though, and here is where it gets interesting."

"Yeah," Ron drawled sarcastically, "what would I do without an interesting plot twist?"

Hermione must have kicked him under the table because he winced. "Go on, Ginny."

"As she grows, Nat's ability will grow until she is able to see things exactly as they were before they were magically altered." Ginny stared around at them as they ingested that bit. "So in effect, if someone like Teddy alters his appearance, she will always be able to see through it. If someone transfigures a mouse into a cat, she will still be able to see the mouse as well as the cat."

"Holy effing Merlin," Ron sat back in his chair, completely stunned. "You're serious?"

"No," Ginny rolled her eyes, "I'm lying to you for the fun of it. This gift is going to make her not only a valuable asset, but also a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands."

Hermione rubbed at her temple and shook her head. "If she can see through things, and can see magic at its core, then she's going to be able to function like Dumbledore being able to see magical signatures, including who performed the magic."

"Better," Ginny corrected. "Dumbledore had to teach himself how to do this. This is an innate ability in her already. She's a natural."

"But," Harry closed his eyes, "as smart as she is, Nat isn't magically powerful overall like Dumbledore. She's doing well, but she isn't a gifted in defensive magic. Al's told us that her best subject is History of Magic."

They all fell silent at that. Ron voiced what they all feared. "So unlike Dumbledore, if someone finds out that she can do this, Nat won't be able to protect herself."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Ginny agreed quietly. "This gift has been mostly in one or two old families. The children typically didn't make it to adulthood. They were kidnapped and exploited. The last one who lived had only one son, who was a Squib and no other magical children so it appeared to have died out there."

Hermione groaned. "Did you trace them?"

"Yep," Ginny nodded. "Direct descendant. I spoke with Julienne Parker this afternoon, and she had a genealogy done from some sort of computer program. I was able to find the Squib son on her chart."

"We have to protect her," Harry said instantly, and saw his wife shoot him a grateful look. "We need to make sure this stays as quiet as possible while she's very young, and help her cope. We have to tell her parents."

The four of them looked around at each other. They'd all liked Al and Rose's friend, and her parents. Not only that, but Nat had helped Harry realize that his family was in jeopardy. Without her, they might have gone another few years without realizing Isabella Crabbe was alive. Harry owed her. He reached out for Ginny's hand and squeezed it gently. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he was pretty sure it was going to be a rough go.

A/N: I'm on twitter now! If you want to follow me, it's sarahjaune

Thank you Arnel for beta'ing for me :D

Also, pretty please, go check in my PROFILE! Go look at a free preview of my book. If you like my style, you'll like my book. Give it a chance (the first chapter is FREE!)

Some asked if reviews, and I responded, but here's the LAST bit in Nat's POV for a couple of chapters. We'll have a small point from her in three chapters or so, but that's it for a while. No way am I making Nat this all powerful something like Dumbledore. Nope, not happening. That kind of character irks me. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Next chapter has Al's POV in it for some :D


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